1868.] 


Dies  Irae. 


89 


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Vol.  VII. 


MAY,    1868. 


No.  1. 


DIES     IRAE.* 


2. 


3. 


5. 


6. 


7. 


Dies  irae,  dies  ilia, 
Solvet  saeclum  in  favilla, 
Teste  David  cum  Sibylla. 

Quantus  tremor  est  futurus, 
Quando  judex  est  venturus, 
Cuncta  strict©  discussurus ! 

Tuba,  mirum  spargens  sonura, 
Per  sepulchra  regionum, 
Coget  omnes  ante  thronum. 

Mors  stupebit  et  natura, 
Cum  resurget  creatura, 
Judicanti  responsura. 

Liber  scriptus  profcretur, 
In  quo  totum  continetur, 
Unde  mundus  judicetur. 

Judex  ergo  quum  sedebit 
Quidquid  latet  apparebit, 
Nil  inultum  remanebit. 

Quid  sum  miser  tunc  dicturus, 
Quem  patronum  rogaturus, 
Quum  vix  Justus  sit  securus  ? 


1.  Day  of  wrath,  that  woful  day, 
Shall  the  world  in  ashes  lay; 
David  and  the  Sibyl  say. 

2.  "What  a  trembling,  what  a  fear, 
When  the  dread  Judge  shall  appear, 
Strictly  searching  far  and  near  1 

3.  Hark  !  the  trumpet's  wondrous  tone, 
Through  sepulchral  regions  blown, 
Summons  all  before  the  throne. 

4.  Death  shall  shiver,  nature  quake, 
When  the  creatures  shall  awake, 
Answer  to  their  Judge  to  make. 

5.  Lo,  the  Book  of  ages  spread, 
From  which  all  the  deeds  are  read 
Of  the  living  and  the  dead. 

6.  Now  before  the  Judge  severe 
All  things  hidden  must  appear, 
Nought  shall  pass  unpunished  here. 

7.  Wretched  man,  what  shall  I  plead, 
Who  for  me  will  intercede, 
When  the  righteous  mercy  need? 


*  Literature.:  G.  C.  F.  Mohntke  :  Kirch- 
en-uvdliterarhisiorische  Studien  und  Mitthei- 
lungen.  Stralsund,  1824,  1  Bd.  1  Heft.  (Bei- 
trdge  zur  alten  kirchlichen  Hymnologie)  p.  1- 
111.  G.  W.  Fink:  Tiiomas  von.  Celano,  in 
Ersch  and  Gruber's  Encyclopcedie,  Sect.  I.  Bd. 
xvi.  p.  7-10.  F.  G.  Lisco:  Dies  Irae.  Hymnus 
auf  das  Weltgericht.  Berlin,  1840.  To  this 
must  be  added  an  appendix  to  the  same  au- 
thor's monograph  on  the  Stabat  Mater,  Ber- 
lin, 1843,  where  he  notices  seventeen  ad- 
ditional translations  of  the  Dies  Irae.  (I 
have  not  been  able  to  procure  Lisco's  first 
volume,  but  found  a  copy  of  the  second  in  the 
Astor  Librarv.)  W.  R.  Williams:  Miscella- 
nies, 2d  ed.,  New  York,  1850,  p.  78-90.  (A 
note  to  an  address  on  the  Conservative  Prin- 


ciple in  our  Literature.)  H.  A.  Daniel  : 
Thesaurus  Hymnoloqicus,  Lips.  Tom.  ii.  (1855) 
pp.  103-131,  and  Tom.  v.  (1856)  pp.  110-116 
C.  E.  Koch  :  art.  Dies  Irae,  in  Herzog's  Theol. 
Eucycl.  vol.  iii.  (1855)  p.  387  and  388  (brief.) 
Abraham  Coles,  M.D.,  Ph.D.:  Dies  Irae 
in  thirteen  original  versions,  with  Photograph- 
ic Illustrations.  New  York.  4th  ed.,  1866. 
Richard  Chenevix  Trench:  Sacred  Latin 
Poetry.  2d  ed.,Lond.  and  Cambridge,  1866,  p. 
293-301.  Compare  also  the  anonymous  pub- 
lication :  The  Seven  Great  Hymns  of  the 
Mediaeval  Church,  New  York,  3d  ed.,  1867, 
pp.  44-97.  where  seven  English  translations 
of  the  Dies  Irae  are  given,  viz.,  those  of  Gen. 
Dix,  Roscommon,  Crashaw,  Irons,  Slosson,  and 
two  of  Coles. 


40 


Dies  Irae. 


[May, 


8.  Rex  tremendae  majestatis, 
Qui  salvandos  salvas  gratis, 
Salva  me,  ions  pietatis. 

9.  Recordare,  Jesu  pie, 
Quod  sum  causa  tuae  viae  ; 
Ne  me  perdas  ilia  die. 

10.  Qurerens  me  sedisti  lassus, 
Redemisti  crucem  passus, 
Tantus  labor  non  sit  cassus. 

11.  Just  te  judex  ultionis, 
Donum  fac  remissiouis 
Ante  diem  rationis. 

12.  Ingemisco  tamquam  reus, 
Culpa  rubet  vultus  meus  : 
Supplicanti  parce,  Deus. 

13.  Qui  Mariana  absolvisti, 
Et  latronem  exaudisti, 
Mihi  quoque  spem  dedisti. 

14.  Pieces  meae  non  sunt  dignae, 
Sed  Tu,  bone,  fac  benigne, 
Xe  perenni  cremer  igne. 

15.  Inter  oves  locum  prsesta, 
Et  ab  hoedis  me  sequestra, 
Statuens  in  parte  dextra. 

16.  Confutatis  maledictis, 
Flammis  acribus  addictis ; 
Yoca  me  cum  benedictis. 

IT.     Oro  supplex  et  acclinis, 
Cor  contritum.  quasi  cinis  : 
Gere  curam  mei  finis. 

18.  [Lacrymosa  dies  ilia, 
Qua  resurget  ex  favilla, 
Judicandus  homo  reus, 
Kuic  ergo  parce,  Deus ! 

19.  Pie  Jesu,  Domine, 

Dona  eis  requiem.  Amen.] 

This  is  the  marvelous  Dies  Irae,  accord- 
ing to  the  received  text  in  the  Roman 
Missal.  *  The  last  six  lines  I  have  put  in 
brackets,  because  they  are  no  part  of  the 
original  poem.  The  translation  placed 
alongside  of  the  Latin  is  to  some  extent 
taken  from,  or  suggested  by,  the  versions 
ofCaswall  and  Alford,  and,  without  claim- 
ing poetic  merit,  adheres  closely  to  the 
original,  except  in  substituting  the  single 
for  the  double  rhyme,  as  being  more  con- 
genial to  the  monosyllabic  character  of  the 

*See  the  Latin  text  in  the  Roman  Missal, 
and  with  various  readings,  in  Mohnike,  1.  c. 
p.  33  ff.,  and  in  Daniel,  II.  103  ff.  Mohnike 
and  Daniel  give  also  the  text  of  Felix  Ham- 
merlin,  which  differs  considerably  and  has  six 
additional  stanzas  at  the  close,  and  the  text 
from  the  marble  slab  in  the  Franciscan  church 
at  Mantua,  which  opens  with  four  stanzas  not 
found  in  the  received  text.  See  below. 


8.  King  of  dreadful  majesty, 
Author  of  salvation  free, 
Fount  of  pity,  save  Thou  me. 

9.  Recollect,  good  Lord,  I  pray, 
I  have  caused  Thy  bitter  wa}-, 
Don't  forget  me  on  that  day. 

10.  Weary  satt'st  Thou  seeking  me, 
Diedst  redeeming  on  the  tree  : 
Let  such  toil  not  fruitless  be. 

11.  Judge  of  righteousness  severe, 
Grant  me  full  remission  here 
Ere  the  reckoning  day  appear. 

12.  Sighs  and  tears  my  sorrow  speak, 
Shame  and  grief  are  on  my  cheek  : 
Mercy,  mercy,  Lord,  I  seek. 

13.  Thou  didst  Mary's  guilt  forgive, 
And  absolve  the  dying  thief: 
Even  I  may  hope  relief. 

14.  Worthless  are  my  prayers,  I  know* 
Yet,  0  Lodd,  thy  mercy  show, 
Save  me  from  eternal  woe. 

15.  Make  me  with  Thy  sheep  to  stand 
Far  from  the  convicted  band, 
Placing  me  at  thy  right  hand. 

16.  When  the  cursed  are  put  to  shame, 
Cast  into  devouring  flame, 

With  the  Blest  then  call  my  name. 

17.  Suppliant  at  Thy  feet  I  lie, 
Contrite  in  the  dust  I  cry, 
Care  Thou  for  me  when  I  die. 

18.  [Full  of  tears  and  full  of  dread. 
Is  the  day  that  wakes  the  dead, 
Calling  all  with  solemn  blast 
From  the  ashes  of  the  past. 

19.  Lord  of  mercy!  Jesu  blest. 
Grant  the  faithful  peace  and  rest. 

Amen.] 

English  language.     The  last  six  lines  are 
literally  copied  from  Caswall. 

CONTENTS  OF  THE    POEM. 

The  Dies  Irae  is  variously  called  Prosa  de 
mortuis  •  De  diejndidi ;  In  commemoratione 
Defuactorum,  and  is  used  in  the  Latin 
Church,  regularly,  on  the  Day  of  All  Souls, 
(Xovember  2)  and,  at  the  discretion  of  the 
priest,  in  masses  for  the  dead  and  on  fu- 
neral solemnities,  frequently  accompanied 
with  music,  especially  Mozart's  Requiem, 
the  last  masterpiece  of  that  extraordina- 
ry genius,  which  is  itself  like  a  wondrous 
trumpet  spreading  wondrous  sounds.  It 
is  a  judgment-hymn,  based  upon  the  pro- 
phetic description  of  the  great  Day  of  the 
Lord  in  Zephaniahi.  15,  1G:  "  That  day 
is  the  day  of  wrath,  a  day  of  trouble  and 
distress,  a  day  of  wasteness  and  desola- 
tion, a  day  of  darkness  and  gloominess, 


1868.] 


Dies  Irae. 


41 


a  day  of  clouds  and  thick  darkness,  a  day 
of  trumpet  and  alarm  against  the  fenced 
cities,  and  against  high  towers."  * 

The  first  words  of  this  prophecy,  ac- 
cording to  the  Latin  translation,  Dies 
irae,  dies  ilia,  furnished  the  beginning 
and  the  key-note  of  the  poem.  In  like 
manner  the  Stabat  Mater  derived  its 
theme  and  inspiration  from  a  few  words 
of  the  Bible  in  the  Vulgate  (John  xix. 
25).  Besides  this,  the  author  of  Dies 
Irae  had  several  other  Scripture  passages 
in  view,  especially  2  Pet.  iii.  10-12  :  "  The 
day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief  in 
the  night;  in  the  which  the  heavens 
shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and_ 
the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat, 
the  earth  also  and  the  works  that  are 
therein  shall  be  burned  up,"  etc. ;  and 
the  Lord's  descriptions  of  his  coming  and 
the  general  judgment.  Matt.  xxiv.  and 
xxv.  The  "  tuba  mirum  spargens  sonum," 
in  Arerse  3,  is  an  allusion  to  1  Cor.  xv.  52 : 
"  The  trumpet  shall  sound,  and  the  dead 
shall  be  raised,"  and  1  Thess.  iv.  16 : 
"  The  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from 
heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of 
the  archangel,  and  with  the  trump  of 
God."  The  "  liber  scriptus,"  in  verse  5, 
is  the  book  of  life  spoken  of  in  Rev.  xx. 
12.  In  verse  7  the  writer  had  undoubt- 
edly in  mind  Job  iv.  18,  xv.  15,  and  es- 
pecially 1  Pet,  iv.  18:  "If  the  right- 
eous scarcely  be  saved  (si  Justus  vix  sal- 
vabitur),  where  shall  the  ungodly  and 
the  sinner  appear  ?  "  The  second  line  in 
verse  8  expresses  the  idea  of  salvation  by 
free  grace  as  taught  Eph.  ii.  8  ;  Rom.  iii. 
24;  2  Tim.  i.  9,  etc.  The  first  line  in 
verse  10 :  "  Quaerens  me  sedisti  (uot 
venisti)  lassus,"  is  a  touching  allusion  to 
the  incident  related  John  iv.  6,  ("  Jesus 
fatigatus  ex  itinere,  sedebat  sic  supra  fon- 
tem  ")  unless  it  be  referred  to  the  whole 
state  of  humiliation.  Mary,  in  verse  13, 
is  Mary  Magdalene,  or  the  sinful  woman 
to  whom  Christ  said :  "  Thy  faith  hath 
saved  thee  ;  go  in  peace,"  Luke  vii.  50. 

*Accordingtothe  translation  of  the  Vulgate, 
"  Dies  irae,  dies  illa,  dies  tribulationis  et  an- 
gusike,  dies  calamiiatis  et  miseries,  dies  tenebra- 
rum  et  caliginis,  dies  nebula3,  et.  turbinis,  dies 
tubw  et  clangoris  cuper  civitates  munilas  et 
super  angelos  excelsos." 


Verses  15  and  16  are  suggested  by  the 
description  of  the  judgment,  Matt.  xxv. 
33  f. 

David  is  mentioned  in  the  first  stanza 
as  the  representative  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment prophets,  with  reference  probably 
to  several  Psalms  in  which  the  judgment 
of  the  world  is  foretold,  as  Ps.  xcvi.  13 
('•'  He  cometh,  he  cometh  to  judge  the 
earth;  he  shall  judge  the  world  with 
righteousness  ")  ;  cii.  26  ("  The  heavens 
shall  perish  ").  In  some  copies  and  trans- 
lations, however,  Peter  is  substituted  for 
David,  on  account  of  2  Pet.  iii.  7-11. 

"With  David  is  joined  the  Sibyl  as  the 
representative  of  the  unconscious  prophe- 
cies of  heathenism,  with  allusion  to  the 
Sibylline  oracles  of  the  destruction  of  the 
world.  The  writer  no  doubt  had  in  view 
chiefly  those  lines  of  Sibylla  Erythraea, 
which  form  an  acrostic  on  the  words 
IH20T2  XPI2TOS  ©EOTTIOS  2QTHP, 
i.e.  "Jesus  Christ,  Son  of  "God,  Saviour," 
and  which  are  quoted  by  Eusebius  in 
Greek,  and  by  St. Augustine  in  aLatin  met- 
rical version,  retaining  the  acrostic  form.f 
This  apocryphal  feature,  though  somewhat 
repugnant  to  Protestant  taste,  and  hence 
omitted  or  altered  in  many  Protestant 
versions  of  the  poem,  is  in  perfect  keep- 
ing with  the  patristic  and  scholastic  use 
of  the  Sibylline  oracles,  the  4th  Eclogue 
of  Virgil,  and  other  heathen  testimonies 
of  the  same  kind,  for  apologetic  purposes. 
It  gives  the  idea  of  the  judgment  of  the 
world  a  universal  character,  as  being 
founded  in  the  expectations  of  Gentiles, 
Jews,  and  Christians,  and  indicated  by 
the  light  of  reason  as  well  as  the  voice 
of  revelation.  The  mediasval  painters 
likewise  place  the  Sibyl  alongside  of  the 
prophets  of  Israel. 

The  poem,  without  any  prelude,  brings 
before  us  at  once  its  awful  theme,  with 
an  exclamation  from  the  Scriptures  that 
rouses  the  inmost  feelings.  It  is  an  act 
of  humiliation  and  prayer  in  view  of  the 
impending  day  of  judgment.     The  poet 

|  Augustine,  Be  Civitate  Dei,  lib.  xviii.  cap. 

23.     The   oraclo   consists   of  27  lines,  and 

commences : 
"  Iudich  signum  tellus  sudore  madescet. 
Ec  Rex  adveniet  per  saecla  futurus : 
Scilicet  in  came  praesens  ut  judicet  orbem." 


42                                                          Dies  Irae.  [^fay, 

is  the  single  actor  and  prays  for  himself,  the  Dies  Irae  in  pathos,  but  does  not  reach 

He  first  describes  the  general  judgment  its  ardor,  purity,  power  and  grandeur,  and 

as  a  certain  fact,  with  its  accompanying  can  never  find  a  place  in  a  Protestant 

terrors  ;   then  he  gives  expression  to  the  hymn-book  without  serious  alteration, 

sense  of  guilt  and  dismay,  and  ends  with  The  Dies  Irae  breathes,  it  is  true,  the 

a   prayer   for   mercy,    which    prompted  mediaeval  spirit  of  legalistic  rather  than 

Christ  to  die  for  poor  sinners,  to  forgive  of  joyous  evangelical  piety,  and  looks  for- 

Mary  Magdalene,   and   to    promise   the  ward  to  the  solemn  winding-up  of  the 

penitent  robber,  in  his  dying  hour,  a  seat  world's   history  with    feelings  of  dread 

in  parade  rather  than  of  hope  and  joy.     The  con- 

The  original  poem  appropriately  closes  eluding    prayer    for    the    dead,    which, 

with  the  words :    Gere  curam  mei  firm,  however,    is    a    later    addition,    implies 

The  last  six  lines  break  the  unity  and  that  the  souls  of  the  departed   may  be 

symmetry  of  the  poem,  they  differ  from  benefited  by  the  prayers  of  the  living, 

the  rest  in  rhyme  and  measure,  and  turn  But  with  this  slight  exception  the  poem 

the  attention  from  the  writer  to  the  de-  is  quite    free    from   every   objectionable 

parted  faithful  as  the  subject  of  his  pray-  feature   of  Romanism,  while  the  two  fa- 

er  (huiCj  eis).      They  are,  therefore,  an  mous  Stabat  Maters  (the    Mater   dolorosa, 

addition  by  another  hand,  probably  from  and  its  companion,  the  recently-discov- 

a  funeral  service  already  in  public  use.  ered  Mater  speciosa)    are    strongly    tinc- 

character  and  value.  tured  with  Mariolatry.     It  represents  sal- 

The    Dies    Irae  is  the    acknowledged  vation  as  an  act  of  the  free  grace  of  Christ, 

masterpiece  of  Latin  church  poetry,  and  "  qui  salvandos  salvat  gratis."     And  in  the 

the  greatest  judgment-hymn  of  all  ages.  lines, Quempatrimumrogcrfurus,  Quumvix 

jSTo  single  poem   of  any  nation   or  Ian-  Justus  sit  securus,   it  virtually  renounces 

guage  has  acquired  such  a  celebrity,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  advocacy  of  the  Vir- 

been  the  subject  of  so  much  praise  and  gin  and  the  Saints,  and  takes  refuge  only 

comment.     It   has   no    rival.     It  stands  in  Christ.     Beneath  the  drifting  mass  of 

solitary  and  alone  in  its  glory,  and  will  mediaeval  traditions  there  was  an  under- 

probably  never  be  surpassed.  current  of  simple  faith  in  Christ,  which 

"It  would  be  difficult,"  says  Coles,  "to  meets  us  in    the    writings    cf    St.  An- 

find,  in  the  whole  range  of  literature,  a  semi.  St.  Bernard,  and  in  the  inimitable 

production  to  which  a  profounder  inter-  Imitation  of  Christ  by  Thomas  a  Kempis. 

est   attaches   than   to    that    magnificent  Hence  the  Dies  Irae  is  as  much  admired 

canticle  of  the  middle  ages,  the  Dies  Irae.  by  Protestants  as  by  Roman  Catholics. 

Among  poetic  gems  it  is  the  diamond."  Protestant  writers  have  done  most  for  its 

The  Germans  call  it.  with  reference  to  its  illustration  and  translation, 

majesty  and  antique  massiveness, the  hymn  The  secret  of  its  beauty  and  power  lies 

of   giants    (Gigantenltymnus).      In    sim-  first  in  the  intensity  of  Christian  feeling 

plicity  and  faith  it  fully  equals  an  older  an-  with  which  its  great  theme  is  handled, 

onymous  judgment-hymn  of  the  seventh  The  poet  realizes  the  impending  judgment 

or  eighth  century,  commencing :     Appa-  of  the  world  as  an  awful  and  overpower- 

rebit  repentina  magna  dies  Domini ;   while  ing  fact  that  is  as  certain  as  the  approach 

in  lyric  fervor  and  effect,  as  well  as  in  of  night.     He  hears  the  trumpet  of  the 

majesty  and  terror,  it  far  surpasses  it  and  archangel   sounding   through    the    open 

all  the  numerous  imitations  of  later  times,  sepulchres.     He  sees  the  dead  rising  from 

The   Stabat  Mater  dolorosa   bears   many  the  dust  of  ages,  and  stands  aghast  be- 

points  of  resemblance,  being  likewise  the  fore  the  final  conflagration  and  collapse 

product  of  the  Franciscan  order,  a  regu-  of  the  universe.     He   sees    the    Son  of 

lar   part    of    the    Catholic   worship,    the  Man    seated  in  terrific  majesty   on    the 

theme  of  glorious  musical  compositions,  judgment  throne,  with  the  open  book  of 

and  multiplied  by  a  large  number  of  trans-  the  deeds  of  ages,  dividing  the  good  from 

lations.     It  is  equal,  or  even  superior,  to  the  bad  and  pronouncing  the  irrevocable 


1868.] 


Dies  Irae. 


43 


sentence  of  everlasting  weal  and  ever- 
lasting woe.     And  with  the  spirit  of  an 
humble    penitent   he    pleads   for   mercy, 
mercy  at  the  hands  of  Him  who  left  his 
throne  of  glory  and  died  on  the  cross  for 
the  salvation  of  sinners.     The  poem  is  in 
the  highest  degree  pathetic,  a  cry  from 
the  depth  of  personal  experience,  and  ir- 
resistibly draws  every  reader  into  sym- 
pathetic   excitement.     That  man    is  in- 
deed to  be  pitied  who  can  read  it  with 
out  shaking  and  quivering  with  emotion. 
The  second  element  of  its  power  lies 
in  the  inimitable  form  which  commands 
the  admiration  of  every  man  of  taste  as 
well  as  of  piety.     "Whatever  there  is  of 
dignity,  majesty  and  melody  in  the  old 
Roman  tongue  is  here  combined  in  rug- 
ged vigor  and  unadorned  simplicity,  as  in 
no  other  poem,  heathen  or  Christian,  and 
is  made  subservient  to  the  one  grand  idea 
of  the  poem.     It  is  onomatopoetic.     It 
echoes,  as  well  as  human  language  can 
do,  the  storm  and  wrath,  the  trembling  and 
wailing  of  the  final  wreck  of  the  material 
universe.     Every  word    sounds  like  the 
peal  of  an  organ,  or  like  the  trumpet  of 
the  archangel   summoning   the    dead  to 
endless   bliss  or  to    endless  woe.      The 
stately  metre,  the  triple  rhyme,  the  se- 
lection of  the  vowels  in  striking  adap- 
tation to  the  sense  and  feeling,  heighten 
and  complete  the  effect  upon  the  ear  and 
the  heart  of  the  hearer.     The  music  of  the 
vowel  assonances  and  consonances,  e.  g., 
the  double  u  in  2  and  7  st.  {futurus,  ven- 
turns,  discussurus ;   dicturus,  rogaturus,  se- 
curus),  the  o  and  u  in  3  st.   {sonum,  re- 
gionum,  thronum),  the  i  and  e   in   9  st. 
{pie,  viae,  die),  defy  the  skill  of  the  best 
translators  in  any  language. 

OPINIONS    OF    CRITICS. 

We  add  the  judgments  of  eminent 
critics. 

Frederick  von  Meyer,  the  author  of  a 
highly  esteemed  revision  of  Luther's  Ger- 
man Bible,  in  introducing  two  original 
translations  of  the  Dies  Irae,  calls  it  "an 
awful  poem,  poor  in  imagery,  all  feeling. 
Like  a  hammer  it  beats  the  human  breast 
with   three    mysterious   rhyme-strokes.* 

*  "  Wie  ein  Hammer  schlagt  en  mil  drei  ge- 
heimnissvollen  Reim-Klangen  an  die  Menschen 


With  the  unfeeling  person  who  can  read 
it  without  terror  or  hear  it  without  awe, 
I  would  not  live  under  one  roof.  I  wish 
it  could  be  sounded  into  the  ears  of  the 
impenitent  and  hypocrites  every  A 
Wednesday,  or  Good  Friday,  or  any  other 
day  of  humiliation  and  prayer  in  all  the 
churches."  {Der  Licldbote,  Frankfort  on 
the  Main,  1S0G). 

Daniel,  the  learned  hymnologist,  justly 
styles  the  Dies  Irae,  '"  una  omnium  con- 
sensu sacrae  poeseos  summum  decus  et  ec- 
clesiae  latinae  xicur^tov  jwetiosissimum" 
and  adds  :  "  Quot  sunt  verba  tot  pondera, 
immo tonitrua"    (Thes.  hymnol.  ii.  p.  112.) 

Albert  Knapp,  one  of  the  greatest  re- 
ligious poets  of  Germany,  compares  the 
Latin  original  to  a  blast  from  the  trump 
of  the  resurrection,  and  declares  it  inimi- 
table in  any  translation.  (JEvang.  Lieder- 
schatz,  3d  ed.  p.  1347.) 

Dean  Milman  places  it  next  to  the 
Te  Deum  and  remarks :  There  is  nothing, 
in  my  judgment,  to  be  compared  with 
the  monkish  "  Dies  irae,  dies  ilia,"  or 
even  the  "  Stabat  Mater." 

Dr.  William  B.  Williams,  an  eminent 
Baptist  divine,  and  a  scholar  of  highly 
cultivated  literary  taste,  has  appended  to 
his  essay  on  the  "  Conservative  Priuciple 
of  our  Literature,"  a  fine  note  on 
Dies  Irae,  in  which  he  characterizes  it 
thus:  "Combining  somewhat  of  the 
rhythm  of  classical  Latin  with  the  rhymes 
of  the  mediaeval  Latin,  treating  of  a  theme 
full  of  awful  sublimity,  and  grouping  to- 
gether the  most  startling  imagery  of 
Scripture  as  to  the  last  judgment,  and 
throwing  this  into  yet  stronger  relief  by 
the  barbaric  simplicity  of  the  style  in 
which  it  is  set,  and  adding  to  all  these  its 
full  and  trumpet-like  cadences,  and  unit- 
ing with  the  impassioned  feelings  of  the 
South,  whence  it  emanated,  the  gravity 
of  the  North,  whose  severer  style  it 
adopted,  it  is  well  fitted  to  arouse  the 
hearer."     {Miscellanies,  N.  Y.,  1850,  p.  78.) 

Archbishop  Trench,  who  among  other 
useful  works  has  prepared  an  admira- 
ble collection   of  Latin   Church  poetry, 

brust.n  Daniel,  ii.  112,  ascribe.5?  this  admi- 
rable description  to  Guericke  (1849),  who  must 
have  borrowed  it  from  Meyer  (1806). 


44 


Dies  Irae. 


[May, 


and  written  one  of  the  best  translations 
of  Dies  Irae,  remarks  :  "  The  metre 
so  grandly  devised,  of  which  I  remem- 
ber no  other  example,*  fitted  though 
it  has  here  shown  itself  for  bringing  out 
some  of  the  noblest  powers  of  the  Latin 
language — the  solemn  effect  of  the  triple 
rhyme,  which  has  been  likened  [by  Fred, 
von  Meyer]  to  blow  following  blow  of 
the  hammer  on  the  anvil — the  confidence 
of  the  poet  in  the  universal  interest  of 
his  theme,  a  confidence  which  has  made 
him  set  out  his  matter  with  so  majestic 
and  unadorned  a  plainness  as  at  once  to 
be  intelligible  to  all — these  merits,  with 
many  more,  have  combined  to  give  the 
Dies  Irae  a  foremost  place  among  the 
masterpieces  of  sacred  song."  {Sacred 
Latin  Poetry,  2d  ed.  p.  296.) 

Abraham  Coles,  the  author  of  thirteen 
distinct  translations  of  Dies  Irae,  says  of 
it  among  other  things  :  "  Every  line 
weeps.  Underneath  every  word  and 
syllable  a  living  heart  throbs  and  pul- 
sates. The  very  rhythm  or  that  alternate 
elevation  and  depression  of  the  voice 
which  prosodists  call  the  arsis  and  the 
thesis,  one  might  almost  fancy  were  syn- 
chronous with  the  contrition  and  the  dila- 
tation of  the  heart.  It  is  more  than  dra- 
matic. The  horror  and  the  dread  are 
real,  are  actual,  not  acted !  " 

"  The  Dies  Irae,"  to  quote  from  the  cel- 
ebrated French  philosopher  Y.  Cousin, 
"  recited  only,  produces  the  most  terrible 
effect.  In  those  fearful  words,  every  blow 
tells,  so  to  speak ;  each  word  contains  a  dis- 
tinct sentiment,  an  idea  at  once  profound 
and  determinate.  The  intellect  advances 
at  each  step,  and  the  heart  rushes  on  in  its 
turn."  (Lectures  on  the  True,  the  Beautiful, 
and  the  Good,  p.  177.) 

*  This  is  an  error.  There  are  verses  of 
striking  resemblance  attributed  by  some  to 
St.  Bernard,  but  probably  of  much  later  date 
(see  Mohnike,  1.  c.  p.  9) : 

"  Quum  recordor  moriturus 

Quid  post  mortem  sim  futurus, 

Terror  terret  me  venturus, 

Quern  expecto  non  securus. 

Terret  dies  me  terroris, 

Dies  irae  ac  furoris, 

Dies  luctus  ac  moeroris, 

Dies  ultrix  peccatoris, 

Dies  irae,  dies  ilia." 


Mrs.  Charles,  the  accomplished  author- 
ess of  the  "  Schonberg  -  Cotta  Family  " 
and  other  popular  works,  thus  speaks  of 
the  Dies  Irae :  "  That  hymn  rose  alone  in 
a  comparative  pause,  as  if  Christendom 
had  been  hushed  to  listen  to  its  deep  mu- 
sic, ranging  as  it  does  through  so  many 
tones  of  human  feeling,  from  the  trem- 
bling awe  and  the  low  murmurs  of  con- 
fession, to  tender,  pathetic  pleading  with 
One  who,  though  the  'just,  avenging 
Judge,  yet  sate  weary  on  the  well  of 
Samaria,  seeking  the  lost,  trod  the  mourn- 
ful way,  and  died  the  bitterest  death  for 
sinful  men.  Its  supposed  author,  Thomas 
of  Celano,  in  the  Abruzzo,  lived  during 
the  fourteenth  century,  was  a  Franciscan 
monk,  and  a  personal  friend  of  St.  Fran- 
cis himself,  whose  life  he  wrote.  But  so 
much  doubt  has  hung  about  the  author- 
ship, and  if  Thomas  of  Celano  was  the 
author,  so  little  is  known  of  him — even 
the  date  of  his  birth  and  death  not  being 
ascertained — that  we  may  best  think  of 
the  Dies  Irae  as  a  solemn  strain  sung  by 
an  invisible  singer.  There  is  a  hush  in 
the  great  choral  service  of  the  universal 
Church,  when  suddenly,  we  scarcely  know 
whence,  a  single  voice,  low  and  trembling, 
breaks  the  silence ;  so  low  and  grave  that 
it  seems  to  deepen  the  stillness,  yet  so 
clear  and  deep  that  its  softest  tones  and 
words  are  heard  throughout  Christen- 
dom, and  vibrate  throughout  every  heart 
— grand  and  echoing  as  an  organ,  yet 
homely  and  human  as  if  the  words  were 
spoken  rather  than  sung.  And  through 
the  listening  multitudes  solemnly  that 
melody  flows  on.  sung  not  to  the  mul- 
titudes, but  '  to  the  Lord,'  and  therefore 
carrying  with  it  the  hearts  of  men,  till 
the  singer  is  no  more  solitary,  but  the 
selfsame  tearful,  solemn  strain  pours 
from  the  lips  of  the  whole  Church  as  if 
from  one  voice,  and  yet  each  one  sings  it 
as  if  alone,  to  God."  {The  Voice  of  Chris- 
tian Life  in  Song,  1ST.  Y.  1864,  p.  170.) 

Edwards  and  Park,  in  their  Selections 
from  German  Literature,  (Andover,  1839, 
p.  185)  quote  the  remark  of  Tholuck,  as 
to  the  deep  sensation  produced  by  the 
singing  of  this  hymn  in  the  University 
church  at  Halle :    "  The  impression,  espe- 


18G8.J 


Dies  Irae. 


cially  that  which  was  made  by  the  last 
words,  as  sung  by  the  University  choir 
alone,  will  be  forgotten  by  no  one."  An 
American  clergyman,  present  on  the  oc- 
casion, said:  "It  was  impossible  to  re- 
frain from  tears,  when,  at  the  seventh 
stanza,  all  the  trumpets  ceased,  and  the 
choir,  accompanied  by  a  softened  tone  of 
the  organ,  sung  those  touching  lines — 
'  Quid  sum  miser  tunc  dicturus.1  " 
Literary  men  and  secular  poets  have 
been  captivated  by  the  Dies  Irce  as  well 
as  men  in  full  religious  sympathy  with 
its  solemn  thoughts  and  feelings.  Goethe 
introduced  several  stanzas  with  thrilling 
effect  in  the  cathedral  scene  of  Faust  to 
stir  up  the  conscience  of  poor  Margaret, 
who  is  seized  with  horror  at  the  thought 
of  the  sounding  trump,  the  trembling 
graves,  and  the  fiery  torment.  Justinus 
Kerner  makes  good  use  of  it  in  his  poem 
Die  Wahnimnigen  Briider.  where  four  im- 
pious brothers  enter  a  church  to  ridicule 
religion,  but  are  suddenly  brought  to 
pause  and  repent,  by  hearing  this  judg- 
ment hymn.  Dr.  Johnson,  with  his  coarse, 
yet  noble  and  manful  nature,  could  never 
repeat  the  stanza  ending  thus,  "  Tantus 
labor  non  sit  cassus"  without  bursting 
into  a  flood  of  tears.  The  Earl  of  Eos- 
common,  "  not  more  learned  than  good," 
in  the  moment  in  which  he  expired,  ut- 
tered with  the  most  fervent  devotion  two 
lines  of  his  own  version : 

"My  God,  my  Father,  and  my  Friend, 
Do  not  forsake  me  in  my  end  1  " 

Sir  Walter  Scott  happily  reproduced  some 
stanzas  of  the  Dies  Irae  in  English,  and, 
following  the  example  of  Goethe,  insert- 
ed them  in  the  sixth  canto  of  his  "Lay 
of  the  Last  Minstrel."  On  his  dying  bed, 
when  the  strength  of  his  body  and  mind 
was  failing,  he  was  distinctly  overheard 
repeating  portions  of  the  Latin  original. 
In  a  letter  to  Crabbe.  he  remarks:  "  To 
my  Gothic  ear,  the  Stabat  Mater,  the  Dies 
Irae,  and  some  of  the  other  hymns  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  are  more  solemn  and  af- 
fecting than  the  fine  classical  poetry  of 
Buchanan;  the  one  has  the  gloomy  dig- 
nity of  a  Gothic  church,  and  reminds  us 
constantly  of  the  worship  to  which  it  is 
dedicated  ;  the  other  is  more  like  a  pagan 


temple,  recalling  to  our  memory  the  clas- 
sical and  fabulous  deities." 

The  Dies  Irae  has  also  given  rise  to 
some  of  the  greatest  musical  compositions 
of  Palestrina,  Durante,  Pergolese,  Haydn, 
Yogler,  Winter,  Cherubini,  Gottfried 
Weber,  Neukomm,  and  of  Mozart,  in  his 
famous  Requiem,  during  the  composition 
of  which  he  died  (1791). 

ORIGIN  AND  HISTORY. 

The  author  of  Dies  Irae  was  unconcern- 
ed about  his  fame,  and  probably  uncon- 
scious of  the  merits  of  the  poem,  as  he  cer- 
tainly was  of  its  unparalleled  success.  He 
wrote  it  from  a  sort  of  inward  necessity  and 
under  the  power  of  an  inspiration  which 
prompts  every  great  work  of  genius.  His 
object  was  to  excite  himself  and  others  to 
repentance  by  a  description  of  the  terrors 
of  the  judgment  day.  The  poem  emanat- 
ed from  a  subjective  state  of  mind,  prob- 
ably without  any  regard  to  public  use,  but 
was  soon  found  to  be  admirably  adapted 
for  divine  worship  on  solemn  occasions,  es- 
pecially the  day  for  the  commemoration  of 
the  departed.  The  deepest  subjectivity  in 
lyric  poetry  often  proves  to  be  the  high- 
est order  of  objectivity.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  the  hymns  of  Paul  Gerhardt  and 
many  Moravian  hymns. 

The  authorship  of  Dies  Irae  cannot  be 
certainly  fixed  ;  it  became  early  a  subject 
of  dispute  between  rival  monastic  orders. 
There  is  no  positive  evidence  to  decide  the 
question,  but  the  probability  is  in  favor 
of  Thomas  e  Celano,  so  called  from  a  lit- 
tle town  in  Abruzzo  ulteriore  in  Italy. 
He  was  an  intimate  friend  and  the  first 
biographer  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,*  Supe- 
rior of  the  Franciscan  Convents  at  Co- 
logne, Mayence,  Worms  and  Speyer,  and 
died,  after  his  return  to  Italy,  about  a.  d. 
1255. 

The  very  first  notice  of  the  poem,  which, 
however,  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
later  than  the  age  of  the  supposed  author, 
ascribes  it  to  Thomas.  This  notice  is  found 
in  a  superstitious  book  entitled,  Liber  con- 

*  His  biography  of  St.  Francis,  known  under 
the  name  of  Legenda  Antiqua,  is  published  in 
the  Acta  Sanctorum  for  October,  torn.  ii.  Moh- 
nike,  L  c.  p.  30,  is  in  error  on  this  point, 
when  he  says  it  was  never  printed- 


46  Dies  Irae.  [Mav, 

formitatum,  written  in  1385  by  a  Francis-  authorship ;  viz.  Gregory  the  Great.  (t604) 

can  monk,  Bartholomanis  Albizzi  of  Pisa  St.     Bernard,    (tll53),    St.  Bonaventura 

(died  1401),  in  which  he  tries  to  show,  by  (fl274),  Latinus  Frangipani,    also    called 

forty  points  of  comparison,  that  St.  Fran-  Malabranca,  a  Dominican  (+1296),   Thur- 

cis  of  Assisi  became  completely  conformed  ston  Archbishop  of  York  (fl  140),  Felix 

to  our  Saviour,  especially  by  the  impres-  Hammerlin,  (Malleolus)  of  Zurich,  1389 

sion  of  the  five  stigmata  on  his  body.*  to  1457. 

Here  he  speaks  incidentally  of  brother        The  extraordinary  religious  fervor  and 

Thomas  a  Celano  in  this  way :  "Locum  ha-  devotion  which    characterizes   the  early 

bet  Celani  de  quo  fuit  /rater  Thomas,  qui  history   of  the   Franciscan  order,  may  be 

mandato  Apostolico  [i.  e.  by  order  of  Pope  considered    as   an  argument  of  internal 

Gregory  IX.]  scripsit  sermone polito  legen-  probability  for  the  authorship  of  Thomas 

dam  prim  am  beati  Francisci,  et  prosam  de  a  Celano.    The  other  two  hymns  ascribed 

mortuis   QUJ3    c.YXTATUR   in  missa  '  Dies  to  him,  though  far  inferior  in  merit,  are  by 

ir.e.'    etc.    dicitur  fecisse."     This    pas-  no  means  destitute  of  poetical  merit.  Many 

sage  proves  only  the  existence  of  a  tradi-  a  poet  has  risen  for  once,  under  the  pow- 

tion  in  favor  of  the  authorship  of  Thomas  er  of  inspiration,  far  above  the  level  of  his 

and  the  use  of  the  Dies  Irae  in  the  mass  ordinary  works.     St.  Francis  himself  was 

toward  the  close   of  the  fourteenth   cen-  a  poetic  nature.  Another  Franciscan  monk 

tury.  Jacopone,  who  died  half  a  century    after 

The  learned  and  laborious  Irish  histoid-  Thomas,  is  the  reputed  author  of  the  Sta- 

anof  the  Franciscans,  Lucas Wadding(born  bat  Mater,  which  stands  next  to  the  Dies 

1580,  died  1657), in  his  two  woTks,Annales  Irae  in  the  whole  range  of  Latin  hymnol- 

Minorum  (1625 — 1654)  and  Scriptores  Or-  ogy.     We  are  indebted,  in  all  probability, 

dinis  Minorum  (1650),  defends  the  tradi-  to  the  Franciscan  order  for  the  most  sub- 

tion,  though  without  positive    proof,  and  lime,  as  well    as  for   the  most   pathetic 

ascribes  to  Thomas  two  other  hymns  be-  hymn  of  the  middle  ages, 
sides,  both  in  honor  of  St.  Francis.f     He         Mone  (Lateinische  Hymnen  des  Mittel- 

is  followed  by  Rambach,  Mohnike,  Finke,  alters,  1853,  vol.  i.  p.  408)  has  suggested 

Lisco,     Daniel,    Mone,     Koch,    Palmer,  the  idea  that  the  Dies  Irae  arose,  not  as 

Trench,  W.  R  Williams,  Coles,  and  nearly  heretofore  supposed,  from  the  individual 

all  the  modern   writers  on  the  subject,  contemplation  of  a  monk  in  his  lonely 

Mohnike,  after  a  careful  examination  of  cell,  but  was   intended  for    the    funeral 

the  question  of  authorship,  arrives  at  the  service  of  the   church,  and   inspired   by 

conclusion   (1.   c.  p.  31)  :      "  Thomas    of  older    judgment   hymns   in    public   use. 

Celano  must  be  regarded  as  the  author  of  In  one  of  these,  which  he  found  in  a  MS. 

the  Dies  Irae  until — what  can  scarcely  be  at  Reichenau  from  the  12th  or  13th  centu- 

expected — it  can  be  irrefragably  proven  ry,  the  passage  occurs : 
that  another  composed  it."  "  Lacrymosa  dies  ilia, 

There  is  no  doubt   that  his  claims  are  Qua  resurgens  ex  favilla 

.  .,        .,  r  .,  Homo  reus  judicandus. 

much  stronger  than  those  ot  any  other  to        ml      .     .  .  .  ,  „    Al 

.         Al      °.     ,         „  ,  The  closing  suspirium  and  praver  lor  the 

whom  the  rivalry  ot   monastic    orders  or  a 

the  conjecture  of  critics  has  ascribed   the         Pr      ?   "Pie  Jesu  Domine 

*  On  this  book  and  the  somatization  ruir-  Doua  eis  requiem," 

acle,  compare  an  interesting  essay  of  Tholuck  is   likewise    found  in   older  hymns    and 

on  the  Miracles  of  the  Catholic  Church,  in  his  missals.   Mone  conjectures  that  the  author 

MtedUmies,  vol.  i.  p.  97  *  .  of  Die8  Ime  himseif  appended  these  clos- 

+  The  one  commencing  Fregit  victor  virtu-  ...  ..  .  ,., 

alts,  the  other  SancUtatisnovasigna.  Wadding  mg  lmes  to  ms  Poem>  smce  they  dld  not 

supposed  that  these  poems  were   lost ;    but  fit  in  his  triple  rhyme.*     Daniel  (torn.  v. 

the  first  was  printed  in   one   of  the   earlier  p.   no)    and    Philip  Wackeraagel  (Das 

Paris  Missals,  the  other  in  the  Acta  Sancto- 

m  for  Oct.  2,  p  301,  and  both  in  Daniel's         *  Mohnike  was  in  error  when  he  declared 

Thes.   hymnol.    torn.  v.   p.   314,   317.  Comp.  the  last  six  lines  ,;  ein  spateres  Machwerk '' 

Trench's  Sacred  Latin  Podry.  p.  295  (2d  ed.).  (L  c.  p.  43). 


18G8.] 


Dies  Irae. 


47 


deutsche  Kirchenlied  von  tier  iiltesten  Zeit,  of  other    countries,  scattering  along  its 

etc.  vol.  i.  p.  138)   are  disposed  to  adopt  track    "  the   luminous    footprints   of    its 

his  view.     But  it  seems  to  me  much  more  victorious   progress   as   the   subduer    of 

probable  that  the  original  poem  closed  with  hearts." 

Gere  curam  mei  finis,  and  that  the  remain-         The  question  as  to  the  primitive  text 

ing  six  lines,  with  their  different  versifica-  of  the  Dies  Irae  must  be  decided  in  favor 

tion  and  the  change  from  the  first  person  of  the  received  text  in  the  Missals.     We 

to  the  third,  {huic  and  eis)  were  added  from  have  besides  two  texts  which  differ  from 

older  sources  by  the  compilers  of  mediae-  the  received,  not  only  by  a  number  of 

val  missals.     Then  we  have  a  perfectly  verbal   variations,    but    also    in    length, 

uniform  production,  free  from  any  allusion  One  of  these  texts  is  said  to  be  inscribed 

to  purgatory  or  other  Romish  features.  on  a  marble  slab  of  the   Church  of  St. 

The  poem   cannot  be  traced   beyond  Francis  of  Assisi  at  Mantua,  and  opens 

the  thirteenth  century.*     In  the  second  with  the   following  four  stanzas,  which 

half  of  the  fourteenth  it  was  in  public  serve  as    an    introduction   and   give  the 

use  in  Italy.     From  the  land  of  its  birth  poem  the  aspect  of  a  solitary  devotional 

it  gradually  passed  into  the  church  service  meditation  : 

1.   "  Cogita  (Qaeuso),  anima  fidelis, 
Ad  quid  respoadere  velis 


Christo  venturo  de  coelis. 

2.  Cum  deposcet  rationera 
Ob  boni  omissionem, 
Ob  mali  commissionem. 

3.  Dies  ilia,  dies  irae, 

Quam  conemur  pras venire, 
Obviamque  Deo  iraa, 

4.  Seria  contritione, 
Gratise  apprehensione, 
Vitae  emeudatione." 

Then  follows  the  "  Dies  irae, 


1."  Weigh  with  solemn  thought  and  tender, 
"What  response,  thou,  soul,  wilt  render, 
Then  when  Christ  shall  come  in  splendor. 

2.  And  thy  life  shall  be  inspected, 
All  its  hidden  guilt  detected, 
Evil  done  and  good  neglected. 

3.  For  that  day  of  vengeance  neareth  : 
Ready  be  each  one  that  heareth 
God  to  meet  when  He  appeareth, 

4.  By  repenting,  by  believing, 

By  God's  offered  grace  receiving, 
By  all  evil  courses  leaving." 

dies  ilia,"  as  we  now  have  it  from  the  first  to  the 


"  Consors  ut  beatitatis 
Vivam  cum  justifieatis 
In  aevum  aeternitatis.     Amen!  " 


sixteenth'  stanza,  ending  with, 

"  Voca  me  cum  benedictis." 

Instead  of  the  eighteenth  stanza  and  the  last  six  lines,  the  Mantuan  text  offers 
this  concluding  stanza : 

"  That  in  fellowship  fraternal 
With  inhabitants  supernal 
I  may  live  the  life  eternal.     Amen  !  " 

Dr.  Mohnike,  of  Stralsund,  who  pub-  {Miscellanies,  p.  80)  and  Dr.  Coles,  (p. 
lished  this  text  (1.  c.  p.  45-47)  in  1824,  xiv.)  derives  some  support  from  the  fact 
as  he  supposed,  for  the  first  time,  from  a  that  other  hymns  were  abridged  or 
manuscript  copy  made  in  the  seventeenth  altered  for  the  Missal  and  the  Breviary 
century  by  Charisius,  burgomaster  of  (e.  g.,  St.  Bernard's  "  Jesu  dulcis  memo- 
Stralsund  (1676), t  regards  it  as  the  ria").  But  this  consideration  is  over- 
original  form  of  the  hymn,  or  at  least  as  ruled  by  the  questionable  date  of  the 
coming'  nearest  to  it.  This  conjecture,  Mantuan  inscription,  as  compared  with 
which  is  adopted  by  Dr.  W.  R.  Williams,  the  present  text,  which  is  already  men- 


*  Daniel  (ii.  p.  113):  "  Ipsius  nimirum 
carrainis  natura  indicat,  illud  multo  magis 
post  quam  ante  Thomas  Celanensis  setatem 
in  lucem  prodiisse." 

f  Charisius,  however,  copied  his  text    not 
directly  from  the  original  at  Mantua,  but,  as 
Daniel  shows,  (ii.  118)   from  the  Florilegium 
Magnum,    published   at    Frankfort  -  on  -  the  -     the  Mantuan   inscription.     This  work  reads 
Main,  1621,   p.  1862,  without  any  allusion  to     in  the  first  line  Quanta  for  Cogita. 


tioned  in  1385,  and  by  the  evident  infe- 
riority of  the  introductory  stanzas,  which 
are  flat  and  prosy  compared  with  the 
rest.  There  could  be  no  more  startling 
and  majestic    opening  than  the  ancient 


48 


Dies  Irae. 


[May, 


Scripture  words,  "  Dies  irae,  dies  ilia." 
The  "  Stabat  Mater,"  likewise,  opens 
with  a  scripture  sentence. 

The  second  rival  of  the  received  text 
is  found  among  the  poems  of  Felix  Ham- 
merlin  (Malleolus)  of  Zurich,  a  distinguish- 
ed ecclesiastic  of  his  age,  a  member  of  the 
Councils  of  Constance  and  Basel,  and  a 
reformer  of  various  abuses,  who  ended 
his  life  (a.  d.  1457)  in  the  prison  of  the 
Franciscan  convent  at  Luzerne.     Among 

18.  "  Lacrymosa  die  ilia, 

Cum  resurget  ex  favilla, 
Tamquam  ignis  ex  scintilla, 

19.  Judicandus  homo  reus  ; 
Huic  ergo  parce,  Deus, 
Esto  semper  adjutor  meus  1 

20.  Quando  cseli  sunt  movendi, 
Dies  adsunt  tunc  tremeudi, 
Nullum  tempus  poenitendi. 

21.  Sed  salvatis  lasta  dies, 
Et  damnatis  nulla  quies, 
Sed  dsemonum  effigies. 

22.  0  tu  Deus  majestatis, 
Alme  candor  trinitatis, 
Nunc  conjunge  cum  beatis. 

23.  Vitam  meam  fac  felicem, 
Propter  tuam  genetricem, 
Jesse  florem  et  radicem. 

24.  Praesta  nobis  tunc  levamen, 
Dulce  nostrum  fac  certamen, 
Ut  clamemus  omnes  Amen." 

Every  reader  must  feel  at  once  that 
these  additions  are  but  weak  repetitions 
of  the  former  verses.  They  are  disfigur- 
ed, moreover,  (ver.  23)  by  Mariolatry  of 
which  the  original  is  entirely  free. 

The  Dies  Irae  did  not  escape  profana- 
tion.    Some    Romish  priest,    about   the 
year  1700,  gratified  his  hatred  of  Protes- 
tantism   by    perverting    this    judgment 
hymn  into  a  false  prophecy  of  the  down- 
fall of  Holland  and  England,  which  he 
hoped  from  the  union  of  the  French  and 
Spanish  crowns  in  the  Bourbon  family. 
Here  are  a  few  specimens  of  this  wretch- 
ed parody  as  quoted  by  Daniel,  (vol.  v.  p. 
116)  and  Williams  (Miscellanies,  p.  84)  : 
<:  Dies  irae,  dies  ilia, 
Solvet  fcedus  in  favilla, 
Teste  Tago,  Scaldi,  Scylla. 

Quantus  tremor  est  futurus, 
Dum  Philippics  est  venturus, 
Has  paludes  aggressurus  1 


several  poems  which  he  composed  in 
prison  was  found  a  Dies  Irae,  and  was 
published  from  the  manuscripts  of  the 
public  library  of  Zurich,  by  Leonhard 
Meister,  also  by  Mohnike,  (p.  39-42)  and 
Lisco,  (ii.  103-105).  It  opens  like  the 
received  text,  which  it  presents  with 
some  verbal  variations  till  stanza  17th, 
and  then  adds  the  following  seven  stanzas, 
which  we  give  with  the  translation  of 
Dr.  Coles  (p.  xviii.)  : 

18.  "  On  that  day  of  woe  and  weeping 

When,  like  fire  from  spark  upleaping, 
Starts,  from  ashes  where  he's  sleeping, 

19.  Man  account  to  Thee  to  render ; 
Spare  the  miserable  offender, 
Be  my  Helper  and  Defender  1 

20.  When  the  heavens  away  are  flying, 
Days  of  trembling  then  and  crying, 
For  repentance  time  denying ; 

21.  To  the  saved  a  day  of  gladness, 
To  the  damned  a  day  of  sadness, 
Demon  forms  and  shapes  of  madness. 

22.  God  of  infinite  perfection, 
Trinity's  serene  reflection, 
Give  me  part  with  the  election  1 

23.  Happiness  upon  me  shower, 

For  Thy  Mother's  sake,  with  power 
Who  is  Jesse's  root  and  flower. 

24.  From  Thy  fulness  comfort  pour  us, 
Fight  Thou  with  us  or  fight  for  us 
So  we'll  shout,  amen,  in  chorus." 


Hie  Bex  ergo  cum  sedebit, 
Vera  fidts  refulgebit, 
Nil  Galvino  remanebit. 

Quid  sum  miser  tunc  dicturus, 
Quem  Patronum  rogaturus, 
Cum  nee  Anglus  sit  securus  ? 

Magne  Rector  Uliorum* 
Amor,  timor  populorum, 
Parce  terris  Batavorum. 


Preces  mege  non  sunt  dignse, 
Sed,  Bex  magne,  fac  benigne, 
Ne  bomborum  cremer  igne. 

Confutatis  Calvi  brutis, 
Batre,  nato,  restitutis, 
Redde  mini  spem  salutis  ! 

Oro  supplex  et  acclinis 
Calvinismus  fiat  cinis, 
Lacrymarum  ui  sit  finis  /" 

*  Louis  XIV.,  of  France,  in  allusion  to  the 
lilies  on  his  armorial  shield. 


Vol.  VII. 


JULY,    1868. 


No.  3. 


TRANSLATIONS 

In  the  May  number  of  Hours  at  Home 
the  space  allowed  limited  us  chiefly  to 
the  history  and  literature  of  this  wonder- 
ful Hymn.  To  complete  the  subject  we 
now  present  specimens  from  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  best  English  and  German 
translations. 

No  poem  has  so  often  challenged  and 
defied  the  skill  of  translators  and  imitators 
as  the  Dies  Irae.  A  collection  of  the 
English  and  German  translations  alone 
would  fill  a  respectable  volume.  The 
dictionary  of  rhyme  has  been  nearly  ex- 
hausted upon  it,  and  every  new  attempt 
must  of  necessity  present  points  of  resem- 
blance to  former  versions. 

But  the  very  fact  that  it  is  untrans- 
latable will  ever  call  forth  new  attempts. 
The  large  number  of  translations  proves 
that  none  comes  fully  up  to  the  original. 
Its  music,  majesty  and  grandeur  can  be 
only  imperfectly  rendered.  "Its  appa- 
rent artlessness  and  simplicity  indicate 
that  it  can  be  turned  readily  into  another 
language,  but  its  secret  power  refuses  to 
be  thus  transferred."  "  The  song  of  Thom- 
as," says  Daniel,  (Thes.  Hymnol.  II.  121) 
"  is  not  only  in  words  but  in  spirit  intense- 
ly Latin  and  uncongenial  to  any  other 
language."  He  finds  the  chief  difficulty 
in  reproducing  the  vowel  assonances 
which  constitute  the  musical  power  and 
effect  of  the  original. 

By  far  the  greatest  number  of  transla- 
tions are  German.  Mohnike  gives,  in 
full  or  in  part,  24  German  versions  made 
prior  to  1824.  Lisco,  in  his  monograph 
on  the  Dies  Irae,  1840,  increased  the 
number  to  44.  In  a  subsequent  mono- 
graph on  the  Stabat  Mater,  1843,  he  re- 
published in  full,  in  three  parallel  col- 
umns, 53  German  versions  of  the  Stabat 
Mater  Dolorosa,  and,  in  an  appendix,  17 
additional  versions  of  Dies  Irae,  of  which 
15  are  German  1  Greek  and  1  French, 
besides  several  Dutch.  *  This  would  make 
59  German  translations  up  to  the  year 
1843.  But  this  list  was  even  then  by  no 
means  complete  and  has  since  considera- 
bly increased,  so  that  the  whole  number 
of  German  translations  now  existing  can- 


OF   DIES    IRAE. 

not  fall  short  of  eighty,  if  not  a  hundred. 
Some  of  the  most  eminent  poets,  as 
Herder,  A.  W.  Schlegel  and  A.  Knapp, 
are  among  the  German  translators  of 
Dies  Irae. 

Next  in  number,  and  upon  the  whole 
equal  in  merit,  are  the  English  versions. 
I  have  collected  over  thirty.  With  the 
exception  of  that  of  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
they  were  unknown  to  Mohnike  and 
Lisco.  They  are  mostly  of  recent  date. 
The  English  language,  by  its  seriousness, 
solemnity,  and  vigor,  is  admirably  adapt- 
ed for  the  Dies  Irae,  notwithstanding  its 
comparative  poverty  in  double  rhymes. 
The  oldest  translation  (as  I  learn  from 
Trench,  Sacred  Latin  Poetry,  p.  300)  was 
made  in  1621  by  Sylvester,  but  I  have 
never  seen  it.  Then  followed  in  1648 
the  free  and  vigorous  reproduction  of 
Crashaw,  an  Anglican  clergyman  of  poet- 
ic genius,  who  from  the  school  of  Arch- 
bishop Laud  went  over  to  the  Roman 
Church.  The  Earl  of  Roscommon,  a 
nephew  of  the  Earl  of  Stafford,  and  the 
only  virtuous  popular  poet  in  a  licentious 
age, 

"  To  whom  the  wit  of  Greece  and  Rome  was 

known, 
And  every  author's  merit  but  his  own,'' 

made  a  more  faithful  version,  in  iambic 
triplets.  In  the  present  century  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  by  his  partial  reproduction, 
awakened  a  new  literary  interest  in  the 
poem,  to  which  we  owe  the  easy  and  ele- 
gant version  of  Macaulay  from  the  year 
1826.  High  dignitaries  and  eminent  di- 
vines  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  Arch- 
bishop Trench  and  Dean  Alford,  adhered 
more  closely  to  the  original.  Several 
members  of  the  Anglo-Catholic  school  of 
Oxford,  Isaac  Williams,  W.  J.  Irons,  and 
E.  Caswall,  (the  last  seceded  to  Rome)  fur- 
nished excellent  translations.  In  Ame- 
rica, ministers  and  laymen  of  various  de- 
nominations took  part  in  this  rivalry  and 
nearly  or  fully  doubled  the  number  of  Eng- 
lish translations.  Among  them  are  Dr.  W. 
R.  Williams,  (Baptist),  Dr.  H.  Mills,  (Pres- 
byterian) Dr.  Robt.  Davidson,  (Presby- 
terian) Charles  Rockwell,  Edward  Slos- 


262 


Translations  of  Dies  Irae. 


[July, 


son,  Epes  Sargent,   Erastus  C.  Benedict, 
W.  G.  Dix,  John  A.  Dix,  C.  F.  Weiser. 

The  palm  among  English  translators 
must  be  awarded  to  an  American  physi- 
cian, Abraham  Coles,  of  Newark,  N.  J.  He 
prepared  no  less  than  thirteen  distinct 
versions,  six  of  which  are  in  the  trochaic 
measure  and  double  rhyme  of  the  origi- 
nal, five   like   in  rhythm,  but  in  single 


rhyme,  one  in  iambic  triplets,  like  Ros 
common's,    the  last    in     quatrains,    lik 
Crashaw's   version.      The  first  two  ap 
peared    anonymously     in    the    Newark 
Daily  Advertiser,  1847,  and  a  part  of  on„ 
found  its  way  into  Mrs.   Stowe's    Unck 
Tom's     Cabin,    the     other    into   H.    W. 
Beecher's  Plymouth    Collection  of  Hymns 
and  Tunes. 


ENGLISH     VERSIONS. 


Of  these  translations  I  select  two  of  the  best  in  single,  and  two  in  double  rhyme. 
Of  others  I  can  only  give  one  or  two  stanzas. 


Richard  C.  Trench. 
0  that  day,  that  day  of  ire, 
Told  of  Prophet,  when  in  fire, 
Shall  a  world  dissolved  expire ! 

0  what  terror  shall  be  then, 
When  the  Judge  shall  come  again, 
Strictly  searching  deeds  of  men : 

When  a  trump  of  awful  tone, 
Thro'  the  caves  sepulchral  blown, 
Summons  all  before  the  throne. 

What  amazement  shall  o'ertake 
Nature,  when  the  dead  shall  wake, 
Answer  to  the  Judge  to  make. 

Open  then  the  book  shall  lie, 
All  o'erwrit  for  every  eye, 
With  a  world's  iniquity. 

When  the  Judge  His  place  has  ta'en, 
All  things  hid  shall  be  made  plain, 
Nothing  unavenged  remain. 

What  then,  wretched  1    shall  I  speak, 

Or  what  intercession  seek, 

When  the  just  man's  cause  is  weak  ? 

King  of  awful  majesty, 

Who  the  saved  dost  freely  free  ; 

Fount  of  mercy,  pity  me! 

Jesus,  Lord,  remember,  pray, 

1  the  cause  was  of  Thy  way; 
Do  not  lose  me  on  that  day. 

Tired  Thou  satest,  seeking  me — 
Crucified,  to  set  me  free ; 
Let  such  pain  not  fruitless  be. 

Terrible  Avenger,  make 

Of  Thy  mercy  me  partake, 

Ere  that  day  of  vengeance  wake. 

As  a  criminal  I  groan, 
Blushing  deep  my  faults  I  own; 
Grace  be  to  a  suppliant  shown. 

Thou  who  Mary  didst  forgive, 
And  who  bad'st  the  robber  live, 
Hope  to  me  dost  also  give. 


Henry  Alpord. 
Day  of  anger,  that  dread  Day 
Shall  the  Sign  in  Heaven  display,* 
And  the  Earth  in  ashes  lay. 

O  what  trembling  shall  appear, 
When  His  coming  shall  bo  near, 
Who  shall  all  thiugs  strictly  clear. 

When  the  Trumpet  shall  command 
Through  the  tombs  of  every  land 
All  before  the  Throne  to  stand. 

Death  shall  shrink  and  Nature  quake, 
When  all  creatures  shall  awake, 
Answer  to  their  God  to  make. 

See  the  Book  divinely  penned, 
In  which  all  is  found  contained, 
Whence  the  world  shall  be  arraigned  1 

When  the  Judge  is  on  His  Throne, 
All  that's  hidden  shall  be  shown, 
Naught  unfinished  or  unknown. 

What  shall  I  before  Him  say  ? 
How  shall  I  be  safe  that  day, 
When  the  righteous  scarcely  may  ? 

King  of  awful  majesty, 
Saving  sinners  graciously, 
Fount  of  mercy,  save  Thou  me  I 

Leave  me  not,  my  Saviour,  one 

For  whose  soul  Thy  course  was  run, 

Lest  I  be  that  day  undone. 

Thou  didst  toil  my  soul  to  gain ; 
Didst  redeem  me  with  Thy  pain ; 
Be  such  labor  not  in  vain ! 

Thou  just  Judge  of  wrath  severe, 
Grant  my  sins  remission  here, 
Ere  Thy  reckoning  day  appear. 

My  transgressions  grievous  are, 
Scarce  look  up  for  shame  I  dare  ; 
Lord,  Thy  guilty  suppliant  spare  1 

Thou  didst  heal  the  sinner's  grief, 
And  didst  hear  the  dying  thief; 
Even  I  may  hope  relief. 


*  Dean  Alford,  like  Dr.  Irons,  follows  the  reading  of  the' Parisian  Missal: 
Dies  irae,  dies  ilia, 

Crucis  expandens  vexilla  (Matt.  xxiv.  30), 
Solvet  saeclum  in  favilla. 


1868.] 


Translations  of  Dies  Irae. 


263 


Though  my  prayer  unworthy  be, 
Yet,  0  set  me  graciously 
From  the  fire  eternal  free. 

Mid  Thy  sheep  my  place  command, 
From  the  goats  far  off  to  staud; 
Set  me,  Lord,  at  Thy  right  hand ; 

And  when  them  who  scorned  Thee  here 
Thou  hast  judged  to  doom  severe, 
Bid  me  with  Thy  saved  draw  near. 

Lying  low  before  Thy  throne, 
Crushed  my  heart  in  dust,  I  groan ; 
Grace  be  to  a  suppliant  shown. 


W.  J.  Irons. 
Day  of  "Wrath !  0  Day  of  mourning ! 
See  I  once  more  the  Cross  returning 
Heav'n  and  earth  in  ashes  burning ! 


0  what  fear  man's  bosom  rendeth, 
"When  from  heav'n  the  Judge  descendeth, 
On  whose  sentence  all  dep^ndeth ! 

Wondrous  sound  the  Trumpet  flingeth, 
Through  earth's  sepulchres  it  ringeth, 
All  before  the  throne  it  bringeth  1 

Death  is  struck,  and  nature  quaking — 

All  creation  is  awaking, 

To  its  Judge  an  answer  making ! 

Lo,  the  Book,  exactly  worded, 
"Wherein  all  hath  been  recorded ; — 
Thence  shall  judgment  be  awarded. 

When  the  Judge  His  seat  attaineth, 
And  each  hidden  deed  arraigneth, 
Nothing  unaveng'd  remaineth. 

What  shall  I,  frail  man,  be  pleading  ? 
Who  for  me  be  interceding  ? — 
When  the  just  are  mercy  needing. 

King  of  majesty  tremendous, 
Who  dost  free  salvation  send  us, 
Fount  of  pity  !  then  befriend  us ! 

Think,  kind  Jesu' — my  salvation 
Caus'd  Thy  wondrous  Incarnation ; 
Leave  me  not  to  reprobation  ! 

Faint  and  weary  Thou  hast  sought  me, 
On  the  Cross  of  suffering  bought  me  : — 
Shall  such  grace  be  vainly  brought  me  ? 

Righteous  Judge  of  retribution, 

Grant  Thy  gift  of  absolution, 

Ere  that  reckoning-day's  conclusion ! 

Guilty,  now  I  pour  my  moaning, 
All  my  shame  with  anguish  owning ; 
Spare,  0  God,  Thy  suppliant  groaning! 

Thou  the  sinful  woman  savest ; 
Thou  the  dying  thief  forgavest 
And  to  me  a  hope  vouchsafest. 


All  unworthy  is  my  prayer ; 
Make  my  soul  Thy  mercy's  care, 
And  from  fire  eternal  spare ! 

Place  me  with  Thy  sheep,  that  band 

Who  shall  separated  stand 

From  the  goats,  at  Thy  right  hand ! 

When  Thy  voice  in  wrath  shall  say, 
Cursed  ones,  depart  away  ! 
Call  me  with  the  blest,  I  pray! 

Lord,  Thine  ear  in  mercy  bow ! 
Broken  is  my  heart  and  low ; 
Guard  of  my  last  end  be  Thou  ! 

In  that  day,  that  mournful  day, 
When  to  judgment  wakes  our  clay, 
Show  me  mercy,  Lord,  I  pray ! 

Abraham  Coles.  (No.  1.) 
Day  of  wrath,  that  day  of  burning, 
Seer  and  Sibyl  speak  concerning, 
All  the  world  to  ashes  turning.* 

Oh,  what  fear  shall  it  engender, 

When  the  Judge  shall  come  in  splendor, 

Strict  to  mark  and  just  to  render! 

Trumpet,  scattering  sounds  of  wonder, 
Rending  sepulchres  asunder, 
Shall  resistless  summons  thunder. 

All  aghast  then  Death  shall  shiver, 
And  great  Nature's  frame  shall  quiver, 
When  the  graves  their  dead  deliver. 

Book,  where  actions  are  recorded 

All  the  ages  have  afforded, 

Shall  be  brought  and  dooms  awarded. 

When  shall  sit  the  Judge  unerring, 
He'll  unfold  all  here  occurring, 
No  just  vengeance  then  deferring. 

What  shall  I  say,  that  time  pending, 
Ask  what  advocate's  befriending, 
When  the  just  man  needs  defending? 

Dreadful  King,  all  power  possessing, 
Saving  freely  those  confessing, 
Save  Thou  me,  0  Fount  of  Blessing ! 

Think,  0  Jesus,  for  what  reason 

Thou  didst  bear  earth's  spite  and  treason, 

Nor  me  lose  in  that  dread  season ! 

Seeking  me  Thy  worn  feet  hasted, 
On  the  cross  Thy  soul  death  tasted : 
Let  such  travail  not  be  wasted ! 

Righteous  Judge  of  retribution ! 
Make  me  gift  of  absolution 
Ere  that  day  of  execution ! 

Culprit-like,  I  plead,  heart-broken, 
On  my  cheek  shame's  crimson  token: 
Let  the  pardoning  word  be  spoken! 

Thou,  who  Mary  gav'st  remission, 
Heard'st  the  dying  Thief's  petition, 
Cheer'st  with  hope  my  lost  condition. 


*  1  prefer  the  original  form  of  this  stanza  as  it  appeared  in  the  Newark  Daily  Adver- 
tiser for  1847. 

"  Day  of  wrath,  that  day  of  burning, 
All  shall  melt,  to  ashes  turning, 
As  foretold  by  seers  discerning." 


264 


Translations  of  Diea.  Irae. 


[July, 


Worthless  are  my  prayers  and  sighing, 
Yet,  good  Lord,  in  grace  complying, 
Rescue  me  from  fires  undying  I 

With  Thy  favor'd  sheep,  0  place  me ! 
Nor  among  the  goats  abase  me ; 
But  to  Thy  right  hand  upraise  me. 

While  the  wicked  are  confounded, 
Doom'd  to  flames  of  woe  unbounded, 
Call  me,  with  Thy  saints  surrounded. 

Low  I  kneel,  with  heart-submission ; 
See,  like  ashes,  my  contrition — 
Help  me  in  my  last  condition! 

Ah !  that  Day  of  tears  and  mourning ! 
From  the  dust  of  earth  returning, 
Man  for  judgment  must  prepare  him; — 
Spare !  0  God,  in  mercy  spare  him  1 
Lord,  Who  didst  our  souls  redeem, 
Grant  a  blessed  Requiem !     Amen. 

Richard  Crashaw,  1646. 
Heard'st  thou,  my  soul,  what  serious  things 
Both  the  Psalm  and  Sibyl  sings 
Of  a  sure  Judge,  from  whose  sharp  ray 
The  world  in  flames  shall  fly  away  ! 

Earl  of  Roscommon,  (died  1684.) 
The  day  of  wrath,  that  dreadful  day, 
Shall  the  whole  world  in  ashes  lay, 
As  David  and  the  Sibyls  say. 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  (died  1832.) 
That  day  of  wrath,  that  dreadful  day! 
When  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away, 
What  power  shall  be  the  sinner's  stay  ? 
How  shall  he  meet  that  dreadful  day? 

This  partial  version,  or  free  reproduc- 
tion rather,  has  found  its  way  into  nearly 
every  good  English  and  American  hymn- 
book,  and  thus  has  become  much  more 
popular  than  any  other  translation. 
Lord  Macaulay,  Christian  Observer,  1826. 

On  that  great,  that  awful  day, 
This  vain  world  shall  pass  away. 
Thus  the  Sibyl  sang  of  old  ; 
Thus  hath  holy  David  told. 

E.  Caswall.     Lyra  Catholica,  1849. 
Nigher  still,  and  still  more  nigh 
Draws  the  Day  of  Prophecy, 
Doomed  to  melt  the  earth  and  sky. 

Dr.   W.    R.    Williams     Miscellanies,  New 
York,  2nd  ed.  1851. 
Day  of  wrath !  that  day  dismaying ; — 
As  the  seers  of  old  were  saying, 
All  the  world  in  ashes  laying. 

Henry  Mills,  D.D.,  of  Auburn,  N.  Y. 
Day  of  wrath — the  sinner  dooming, 
Earth  with  all  its  work  consuming, 
Scripture  warns — that  day  is  coming. 

Ret.  C.  Z.  Weiser,  Pennsburg,  Pa.     1859. 
0  Day  of  wrath  !  that  Day  of  days 
To  ashes  shall  the  earth  emblaze — 
Say  David's  hymns  and  Sibyl  lays. 


Though  my  prayers  be  void  of  merit, 
What  is  needful,  Thou  confer  it, 
Lest  I  endless  fire  inherit ! 

Be  there,  Lord,  my  place  decided, 
With  Thy  sheep,  from  goats  divided 
Kindly  to  Thy  right  hand  guided! 

When  th'  accursed  away  are  driven, 

To  eternal  burnings  given, 

Call  me  with  the  blessed  to  heaven ! 

I  beseech  Thee,  prostrate  lying, 
Heart  as  ashes,  contrite,  sighing, 
Care  for  me  when  I  am  dying! 

Day  of  tears  and  late  repentance, 
Man  shall  rise  to  hear  his  sentence  : 
Him,  the  child  of  guilt  and  error, 
Spare,  Lord,  in  that  hour  of  terror  ! 


Robert  Davidson,  D.D.,  Huntingdon,  L.  I- 
Day  of  wrath  !  that  day  is  hasting, 
All  the  world  in  ashes  wasting, 
David  with  the  Sibyl  testing. 

Epes  Sargent,  Esq. 
Day  of  ire,  that  day  impending, 
Earth  shall  melt,  in  ashes  ending — 
Seer  and  Sibyl  so  portending. 

Rev.  Charles  Rockwell. 
Day  of  wrath  !  oh  !  direful  day  ! 
Earth  in  flames  shall  pass  away, 
Virgil  [?]  and  the  Sibyl  say. 

From  Poems  by  Somniator.     Philad.  Bulletin, 
1860. 

The  Sibyl's  leaf,  the  Psalmist's  lay 

Alike  portend  a  wrathful  day, 

When  heaven  and  earth  shall  melt  away. 

Anonymous. 
Day  of  wrath  !  that  day  appalling! 
Words  of  ancient  seers  recalling: 
Earth  on  fire,  in  ashes  falling. 

2.  Oh,  in  hearts  of  men  what  trembling, 
At  that  Judge's  bar  assembling, 
Where  of  sins  is  no  dissembling. 

3.  Louder  and  yet  louder  breaking 
From  the  sky,  the  caverns  shaking, 
Angel  trumps  the  dead  awaking. 

W.  G.  Dix. 

That  day  of  wrath — upon  that  day 
To  ashes  earth  shall  pass  away, 
Both  David  and  the  Sibyl  say. 

3.  The  trump  shall  spread  its  startling  sound 
Through  sepulchres  beneath  the  ground, 
And  gather  all  the  throne  around. 

17.  Thou  gav'st  to  sinful  Mary  peace  ; 
Thou  to  the  thief  didst  grant  release: 
Let  not  my  hope  of  pardon  cease. 

Gen.  John  A.  Dix,  1862. 
Day  of  vengeance,  without  morrow ! 
Earth  shall  end  in  flame  and  sorrow, 
As  from  Saint  and  Seer  we  borrow. 


1868.] 


Translations  of  Dies  Irae. 


265 


This  version,  which  has  been  highly 
praised  and  widely  circulated,  was  made 
at  Fortress  Monroe,  Va.,  during  the  civil 
war,  in  which  the  brave  and  patriotic 
name  of  General  Dix  occupies  a  distin- 
guished place.  It  presents  some  striking 
coincidences  with  other  versions.  Take 
the  following  specimens  : 

A.  Coles,  No.  1,  (1847). 
13.  Thou  to  Mary  gav'st  remission, 
Heard'st  the  dying  thiefs  petition, 
Cheer'st  with  hope  my  lost  condition. 

John  A.  Dix. 
L3.  Thou  to  Mary  gav'st  remission, 
Heard'st  the  dying  thief's  petition, 
Bad'st  me  hope  in  my  contrition. 

W.  J.  Irons,  (1849). 

10.  Faint  and  weary  Thou  hast  sought  me, 
On  the  cross  of  suffering  bought  me  ; 
Shall  such  grace  be  vainly  brought  me  ? 

11.  Righteous  Judge  of  retribution, 
Grant  Thy  gift  of  absolution, 

Ere  that  reckoning  day's  conclusion. 

John  A.  Dix. 

10.  Worn  and  weary,  Thou  hast  sought  me, 
By  Thy  cross  and  passion  bought  me — 
Spare  the  hope  Thy  labors  brought  me. 

11.  Righteous  Judge  of  retribution, 
Give,  0  give  me  absolution, 
Ere  the  day  ofkiissolution. 

The  editor  of  the  "  Seven  Great  Hymns 
of  the  Mediaeval  Church,"  p.  84,  mentions 
a  still  more  curious  resemblance,  "  with 
an  absolute  identity  of  language  in  many 
parts,"  in  an  unpublished  version  of  Mr. 
A.  Peries,  of  Philadelphia,  "  wherein 
several  stanzas  differ  but  little  from  those 
of  General  Dix."  He  quotes  as  a  speci- 
men the  eleventh,  which  Peries  renders 
as  follows  : 

"  Righteous  Judge  of  retribution, 
Grant  us  sinners  absolution 
Ere  the  day  of  dissolution." 

Dr.  Coles  in  this  stanza  had  anticipated 

all  three  in  his  first  translation  of  1847  : 

"  Righteous  Judge  of  retribution,    . 

Make  me  gift  of  absolution 

Ere  that  day  of  execution." 

Compare  also  Dr.  H.  Mills  : 
Righteous  Judge  of  retribution, 
Bless  my  soul  with  absolution 
Ere  that  day  of  execution. 

Mrs.  Charles.     (1858.)    From  The  Voice 

of  Christian  Life  in  Song,  p.  188. 

Lo,  the  Day  of  Wrath,  the  Day 
Earth  and  heaven  melt  away, 
David  and  the  Sibyl  say. 


Stoutest  hearts  with  fear  shall  quiver, 
When  to  Him  who  erreth  never, 
All  must  strict  account  deliver. 

Lo,  the  trumpet's  wondrous  pealing, 
Flung  through  each  sepulchral  dwelling, 
All  before  the  throne  compelling. 

Edward  Slosson,  of  the  bar  of  New  York. 

Day  of  Wrath !  of  days  that  Day  ! 
Earth  in  flames  shall  melt  away, 
Psalmist  thus  and  Sibyl  say. 

Erastus  C  Benedict,  Esq.,  of  New- 
York.  Three  translations,  first  published 
in  the  Christian  Intelligencer,  1864,  and 
then  in  his  "  Hymn  of  Hildebert,  and 
other  Mediaeval  Hymns."  N.  Y.,  1867, 
pp.  108-120. 

No.  1. 
Day  of  Wrath  !  that  final  day, 
Shall  the  world  in  ashes  lay ! 
David  and  the  Sibyl  say. 

No.  2. 
Day  of  threatened  wrath  from  heaven, 
To  the  sinful,  unforgiven ! 
Earth  on  fire,  to  ashes  driven  1 

No.  3. 
Day  of  wrath,  with  vengeance  glowing ! 
Seer  and  Sibyl  long  foreknowing ! 
Earth  and  time  to  ruin  going  1 

2.  How  the  guilty  world  will  tremble, 
When  the  Judge  shall  all  assemble, 
And  not  one  will  dare  dissemble  1 

3.  When  the  trumpet's  summons,  swelling 
Through  Death's  dark  and  dusty  dwelling, 
To  the  throne  is  all  compelling  1 

J.  Hoskyns  Abrahall.     From  the  Chris- 
tian Remembrancer,  Jan.,  1868. 

Day  of  wrath  and  tribulation, 
Day  in  vasty  conflagration 
Heaven  and  earth  together  blending, 
And  the  world's  long  cycle  ending — 
Know,  it  cometh;   be  thou  heeding 
Hebrew  seers  and  heathen's  reading. 

Abraham  Coles,  M.  D.,  Newark,  N.  J., 
the  author  of  thirteen  versions  made  be- 
tween 1847 — 1859. 

No.  1.  Day  of  wrath,  that  day  of  burning, 
Seer  and  Sibyl  speak  concerning, 
All  the  world  to  ashes  turning. 

No.  2.  Day  shall  dawn  that  has  no  morrow, 
Day  of  vengeance,  day  of  sorrow, 
As  from  Prophecy  we  borrow. 

No.  3.  Day  of  Vengeance  and  of  Wages, 
Fiery  goal  of  all  the  age3, 
Burden  of  prophetic  pages ! 

No.  4.  Day  of  Prophecy !  it  flashes, 

Falling  spheres  together  dashes, 
And  the  world  consumes  to  ashes. 


266 


Translations  of  Dies  Irae. 


[July, 


No.  5.  Day  of  vengeance,  and  of  scorning-, 

World  in  ashes,  world  in  mourning, 
Whereof  Prophets  utter  warning  1 

No.  6.  Day  of  wrath  and  consternation, 
Day  of  fiery  consummation, 
Prophesied  in  Revelation  I 

No.  7.  Day  of  wrath,  that  day  of  days, 
Present  to  my  thought  always, 
"When  the  world  shall  burn  and  blaze ! 

No.  8.  0.  that  dreadful  day,  my  soul  1 
Which  the  ages  shall  unroll, 
When  the  knell  of  Time  shall  toll ! 

No.  9.  Day  foretold,  that  day  of  ire, 
Burden  erst  of  David's  lyre, 
When  the  world  shall  sink  in  fire ! 

No.  10.  Lol  it  comes,  with  stealthy  feet, 
Day,  the  ages  shall  complete, 
When  the  world  shall  melt  with  heat ! 

No.  11.  Day  of  wrath,  that  day  of  dole, 

When  a  fire*  shall  wrap  the  whole, 
And  the  earth  be  burnt  to  coal ! 

No.  12.  0  Day  of  wrath !  0  day  of  fate  I 
Day  foreordained  and  ultimate, 
When  all  things  here  shall  terminate  1 

No.  13.  That  day,  that  awful  Day.  the  last, 
Result  and  sum  of  all  the  Past, 
Great  necessary  day  of  doom, 
When  wrecking  fires  shall  all  con- 
sume! 

From  the  London  "  Spectator"  for 
March  7,  1868. 

The  day  of  wrath,  that  haunting  day 
Shall  the  whole  age  in  ashes  lay, 
Thus  David  and  the  Sybil  say. 
What  terror  then  shall  seize  the  breast, 
When  the  great  Judge  is  manifest 
To  institute  the  awful  quest. 

The  author  of  this  translation  makes  a 
singular  mistake  in  referring  the  liber 
scriptus,  ver.  5,  to  the  Bible,  while  the  poet 
evidently  meant  the  record  of  all  human 
actions  spoken  of  Dan.  vii.  10;  Rev.  xx.  12. 

To  add  one  more  attempt  to  translate 
the  untranslatable  I  would  suggest  the 
following : 

Day  of  wrath  1  that  day  foretold 
By  the  saints  and  seers  of  old, 
Shall  the  world  in  flames  infold. 

German  Translations. 
The  following  specimens  will  give  an 
idea  of  the   German  translations.     The 
first  stanza  is  selected,  as  it  is  generally 
characteristic  of  the  whole. 

Martin  von  Cochem,  1745. 
An  jenem  Tag,  nach  David's  Sag, 
Soil  Gotten  Zorn  erbrinnen : 
Durch  Feuers  Flamm,  muss  allesamm, 
Gleichwie  das  Wachs  zerrinnen. 


Mohnike  calls  this  the  first  proper 
translation.  It  is  far  inferior  to  Cra- 
shaw's  English  version,  which  is  a  hun- 
dred years  older. 

Franz  Xaver  Riedel,  1773. 

Am  Tag*  des  Zorns.  an  jenem  Tage 
Nach  Davids  und  Sibyllens  Sage 
Versinket  einst  in  Asche  diese  Welt 

J.  G.  von  Herder,  1801. 
Tag  des  Schreckens  !     Tag  voll  Beben  1 
Wenn  die  Griifte  sich  erheben 
Und  die  Todten  wiedergeben. 

Herder's  version,  though  superior  to 
its  predecessors,  is  hastily  done,  and  un- 
worthy of  his  great  genius. 

A.  W.  von  Schlegel,  1802. 

Jenen  Tag.  den  Tag  des  Zoren, 
Geht  die  Welt  in  Brand  verloren, 
Wie  Propheten  hoch  beschworen. 

Welch  ein  Graun  wird  sein  und  Zagen, 
Wenn  der  Richter  kommt  mit  Fragen, 
Streng  zu  priifen  alle  Klagen  1 

Die  Posaun'  im  Wundertone, 
Wo  auch  wer  im  Grabe  wohne, 
Rufet  alle  her  zum  Throne. 

This  is  the  first  really  good  German 
version,  and  betrays  the  skill  of  a  mas- 
ter.  Yet  Schlegel  himself  (in  a  letter  to 
Konigsfeld)  admitted  th  "failure  of  the  first 
stanza ;  Zoren  for  Zorn  is  antiquated,  and 
the  Sibyl  should  not  be  omitted  in  a 
faithful  version. 

Fr.  von  Meyer,  1806. 

Tag  des  Zorns,  mit  wildem  Raube 
Wandelst  du  die  Welt  zu  Staube, 
So  bezeugt's  der  heil'ge  Glaube. 

Catholic  Hymn-Book  of  Munich,  1810. 

Erden  wauken,  Welten  beben, 
Wenn  du,  Herr !  dich  wirst  erheben, 
Richtend  iiber  Tod  und  Leben.. 

Ach  vor  jenen  Ungewittern, 
Die  der  Welten  Bau  erschuttern, 
Werden  alle  Frevler  zittern. 

This  version  was  made  use  of  in  several 

editions  of  Mozart's  composition  in  his 

Requiem. 

J.  G.  Fichte,  the  celebrated  philosopher,  1814. 

Jenen  Tag,  den  Tag  der  Fulle, 
Fallt  die  Welt  in  Graus  und  Stille, 
David  zeugt's  und  die  Sibylle. 

M.  F.  Jack,  IS  15. 

Welche  bange  Trauerstunde, 
Wenn,  nach  der  Propheten  Munde, 
Gluht  die  Erd'  im  Feuerschiunde. 


1868.] 


Translations  of  Dies  Irae. 


2G7 


Fs.  Kind,  1817. 
Tag  des  Zorns,  du  wirst  erfullen 
Davids  Wort  und  der  Sibyllen, 
Wirst  die  Welt  in  Asche  hullen. 

Ad.  L.  Follen,  1819. 
Tag  des  Zornes,  warm  er  taget, 
Feuerloh  die  Zeit  zernaget, 
Wie  Sibyll  mit  David  saget. 

J.  P.  Silbert,  1820. 
Tag  des  Zornes,  furchtbar  stille, 
Du  vergliihst  des  Erdballs  Fiille, 
Zeugt  mit  David  die  Sibylle. 

3.  Hier  wird  die  Posaune  klingen, 
Wird  durch  feme  Griifte  dringen, 
Alle  vor  den  Thron  zu  zwingen. 

4.  Die  Natur,  der  Tod  sieht  bebend 

Das  Geschopf  der  Graft  entschwebend, 
Und  dem  Richter  Antwort  gebend. 

This  excellent  version  rivals  with  that 
of  Schlegel. 

A.  C.  Doring,  1821. 
Tag  des  Zorns,  wo  Gott  einst  riehtet, 
Und  die  Welt  in  Gluth  vernichtet, 
Wie  Propheten  uns  berichtet. 

Yon  Wessenberg,  Hymn-book  of  Constance. 

Furchtbar  wird  der  Tag  sicli  rdthen, 
Kund  gethan  von  den  Propheten, 
Der  die  Welt  in  Staub  wird  treten. 

W.  A.  Swoboda,  Prag,  1S26. 
Tag  des  Zornes,  Tag  der  Klagen ! 
Zeit  und  Welt  wirst  du  zerschlagen, 
Wie  uns  die  Propheten  sagen. 

J.  A.  Scholtz,  1828. 
Jener  Tag  in  Zornes  Fiille 
Lost  in  Brand  der  Zeiten  Hiille, 
David  zeugt's  und  die  Sibylle. 

J.  C.  W.  Niemeyer,  Halle,  1833. 

Jener  Raehetas;  der  Sunden 
Wird  die  Welt  zu  Asche  zlinden, 
Wie  Sibyll'  und  David  kiinden. 

Carl  Simrock,  1834. 
Tag  des  Zornes,  des  Gerichtes  I 
Was  von  Staub  in  Flamraen  bricht  es  : 
David  und  Sibylle  spricht  es. 

Mohnike,  1834. 
Tag  des  Zorns  !  in  Flammenwehen 
Wird  die  Welt  zu  Staub  vergehen, 
WTie  Propheten  langst  gesehen. 

Franke,  1839. 
Einst  am  Richttag  wird  verschwinden 
Zeit  und  Welt  in  Feuersehliinden, 
Wie  uns  heil'ge  Sanger  k  linden. 

Robt  Lecke,  1842. 
Jener  Tag,  wo  God  wird  richten. 
Soil  die  Welt  zu  Staub  vernichten, 
Wie  Propheten  uns  berichten. 

Lecke  made  and  published  at  his  own 
expense,  at  Munich,  1842,  no  less  than 


twelve  translations,  which,  however,  do 
not  rise  above  mediocrity. 

Chevalier  Bunsen,  1833. 
Tag  des  Zorns,  0  Tag  voll  Grauen, 
Da  die  Welt  den  Herrn  soil  schauen, 
Nach  dem  Wort,  dem  wir  vertraueD. 

Albert  Knapp,  1850. 
An  dem  Zorntag,  an  dem  hohen, 
Stiirzt  die  Welt  in  Feuerlohen, 
Wie  Prophetenschwiire  drohen. 

If  I  mistake  not,  Knapp  made  another 

version  which  is  the  basis  of  the  one  in 

the  "Wiirtemberg  Hymn  Book,  1849  : 

Jenen  Tag.  den  Tag  der  Wehen, 
Wird  die  Welt  im  Staub  vergehen, 
Wie  Prophetenspruch  geschehen. 

G.  A.  Konigsfeld,  1847. 
An  dem  Zorntag,  jenem  hehren, 
Wird  die  Gluth  das  All  verzehren, 
Wie  Sybill'  und  David  lehren. 

In  his  second  collection  of  Latin  hymns 
with  translations,  published  Bonn,  1865, 
Konigsfeld  gives  a  revised  version,  chang- 
ing the  first  line  thus : 

Jenen  Zorntag,  jenen  schweren. 

Ton  Seld.    Iu  Daniel's   Thes.  Hymnol.,  II. 
p.  110. 
Zorn  und  Zittern  bange  Klag  ist, 
Wenn  der  letzte  aller  Tag  ist, 
Wie  die  alte  heil'ge  Sag  ist. 

H.  A.  Daniel,  1855.     2  versions. 
No.  1. 
Tag  des  Zorns,  du  Tag  der  Fiille, 
Kehrst  die  Welt  in  Staubgeriille — 
So  zeugt  David  und  Sibylle. 

No.  2. 
David  und  Sibylla  spricht : 
Erd  und  Himmel  bleiben  nicht, 
Wenn  der  jiingste  Tag  anbricht. 

Phil.  Schaff,  1858.  (German  Kirchenfreund, 
Mercersburg,  Pa.,  voL  ix.  p.  388,  f.  2  ver- 
sions.) 

No.  1. 
An  dem  Tag  der  Zornesflammen 
Stiirzt  die  Welt  in  Staub  zusammen, 
Nach  dem  Wort  das  Ja  und  Amen. 

No.  2. 
An  dem  Tag  der  Zornesfulle 
Siukt  die  Welt  in  Aschenhulle  : 
So  spricht  David  und  Sibylle. 

The  best  among  these  German  versions 
are  those  of  Schlegel,  Silbert,  Bunsen. 
Knapp  and  Daniel.  But  none  of  them 
has  become  so  popular  as  the  free  repro- 
duction in  the  old  German  hymn:  " Es 
ist  gewisslich  an  dei*  Zeit^  by  Bartholo- 
maeus  Ringwaldt,  1582. 


268 


Camille. 


[July, 


French  Versions. 

The  French  language  is  poorly  adapted 

for  poetry  in  general,  and  especially  of 

this  solemn  kind.     I  have  seen  but  one 

French    translation,    by    an    anonymous 

author,  in  Lisco's  "  Stabat  Mater"   from 

an  older  print  of  1702.     It  begins  : 

'•  0  jour  du  Dieu  vengeur,  oil  pour  punir  les 
crimes 
Un  deluge  brulant  sortira  des  abimes, 
Et  le  ciel  s'armera  de  foudres  et  d'eclairs; 


Quel  trouble  en  tous  les  cceurs,  quand  ce  juge 

severe, 
Lancaut  de  toute  part  les  traits  de  sa  colore, 
Sur  uu  trone  de  feu  paraitra  dans  les  airs  I " 

There  is  also  a  translation  into  modern 
Greek,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hildner,  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  Church  of  England  at  Syra. 
It  was  first  published  in  Tholuck's  Literary 
Advertiser  for  1842,  and  then  by  Daniel, 
Thesaurus  Ilymnol.,  torn.  ii.  p.  105. 


CAMILLE 


CnAPTER    XX. 

The  nio:ht  of  watching  was  lonsr. 

The  cup  was  approaching  her  lips,  she 
had  already  tasted  its  bitterness;  now  it 
must  be  drained  to  the  dregs. 

To-morrow !  to-morrow ! 

Camille,  kneeling,  still  saw  the  pale  and 
angry  face,  the  face  to  which  she  was  about 
to  bid  adieu  forever.  And  she  had  lost 
this  heart ! 

Edgar  also  was  going.  His  eyes,  full 
of  reproach,  pursued  her  with  their  dis- 
appointed gaze. 

.  Everywhere  she  had  brought  desola- 
tion, everywhere  she  had  carried  ruin. 
Xo  strength  was  left  her.     She  endured 


BY    THE    COUNTESS    DE    GASPARIN. 

weeping,  a  light  knock  was  heard.  The 
door  half  opened,  and  Victor  entered 
without  her  knowledge. 

He  stood  for  an  instant  before  her  mo- 
tionless, and  paler  than  if  he  had  been 
stricken  by  death. 

"  You  are  weeping,  Camille  !  "  he  ex- 
claimed. 

Camille  started;  she  raised  her  dim 
eyes,  but  her  lips  did  not  utter  a  word. 

"  From  those  serene  heights  where  youi 
soul  hovers,  you  deign  to  cast  a  calm 
glance  on  the  wretch  who  is  struggling 
in  the  tortures  of  death!  " 

Camille  kept  silence. 

"  You  have  felt  for  him  the  radiant  pity 


that  apathy  of  grief  which  freezes  our     of  the  seraphs 


9  " 


energies,  arrests  our  prayers,  and  leaves 
us  nought  but  suffering,  as  if  all  our  fac- 
ulties were  summed  up  in  a  superhuman 
power  of  misfortune. 

Then  she  remembered  G-ethsemane. 
She  remembered  the  Christ's  heaviness 
of  spirit,  his  supplications,  his  "My  God, 
not  my  will  but  thine  be  done !  " 


Camille  let  her  head  fall  in  her  clasped 
hands. 

Victor  seized  them.  Unable  longer  to 
contain  himself,  he  fell  on  his  knees  by 
her  side. 

"  Forsrive  me.  forgive  me !  "  he  cried. 
"  You  are  suffering  ?  Yes,  she  is  suffer- 
ing it  is  true.     Poor  child !  "     He  wiped 


O) 


Her  lips  murmured  the  divine  words —    away  her  tears.     "  Her  head  is  burning ! 


the  crv  of  the  terrors  of  the  soul,  and  the 
shuddering  of  the  will,  the  cry  of  dearly- 
bought  victories,  the  filial  cry,  the  confid- 
ing cry,  the  cry  which  brings  from  hea- 
ven the  angels  of  consolation.  She  could 
say  nought  but  this.  But  she  soon  felt 
that  another  was  praying  for  her.     She 


Camille,  I  have  broken  Your  heart !  " 

With  the  tenderness  and  touching  gen- 
tleness of  which  Camille  so  well  knew 
the  power,  he  continued  :  "  If  you  could 
love  me,  Camille ;  if  you  would  trust  in 
me ;  if  you  would  wake  from  the  fright- 
ful dream  that  is  killing  us  both  ;  if  you 
felt  the  all-powerful  prayers  of  Christ,  would  abandon  yourself  to  the  true  God, 
and  the  ineffable  sighs  of  the  Holy  Ghost  the  God  that  made  your  heart,  the  God 
that  intercedes  for  us  dav  and  night.  that  smiles  on  strong  love  ;  if  vou  would 

Her  tears  flowed  slowly  and  gently,     leave  to  the  dead  those  implacable,  dead 
God  permits  us  to  weep.  doctrines  which  I  abhor!  " 

'oward  morning,  while  she  was  still        Camille  shuddered. 


T( 


Extebed,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1S68,  by 

C.  Scbibneb  &  Co., 

in  thd  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


The  New  York  Printing  Company, 
8i,  83,  and  85  Centre  Street. 


INDEX. 


-++- 


PAGE 
POETRY. 

Dieslrae, 39,261 

Raphaels  Madonna  di San  Sisto, 57 

Three  Meetings, 71 

Peace, 89 

A  Newly  Discovered  Hymn  of  Calvin, 155 

The  Prince  of  Peace, 162 

The  Leaf  upon  the  Stream, 170 

The  Dawn, 181 

The  Old  Grief, 245 

The  Desert  Lion, 260 

Smiling  at  the  Stake, 288 

An  Autumn  BuriaL 32-3 

Haunted, 364 

A  Sea-ShelL 427 

The  May-Flower  Gift, 445 

The  Doves, 494 

Lord,  Save,  or  I  Perish, 511 

My  Gentians, 550 

AUTHORS. 
Atkinson,  Mary  E.    The  Desert  Lion,  260  ;  My 

Gentians,  550. 
Author  of  "  John  Halifax,  Gentleman."    Three 

Meetings, 71 

Bancroft,  Mary.     Current  Poetical  Coin, 520 

Beard,  George  M.  Air,  Sunlight,  and  Water,  226 ; 

Clergymen  and  the  Laws  of  Health,  539. 
Booth,  Mary  L.     Camilie.  Translated  for  HOURS 

at  Home,  49,  172,  268. 
Bolles,  John  A     The  Family  Circle.     Extracts 

from  the  Proceedings  of  the  Mutual  Admira- 
tion Society,  302 ;  The  Katydids,  500. 

Brown,  Helen.     Haunted, 364 

Bunce,  0.  B.     Savings  Banks, 550 

Bushnell,  Horace.     Distinctions  of  Color,   81 ; 

Training   for   the    Pulpit    Manward,   198; 

Building  Eras  in  Religion,  3S5. 

Burrage,  Henry  S.     The  Gold  Star, 338 

Claude,  Iris.     The  Dawn, 1S1 

Curtis,  A  J.  Friedhof — The  Court  of  Peace, . .  157 
De  Yere,  M.  S.  Napoleon  and  St.  Domingo, ...  28 
Dodge,  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Smiling  at  the  Stake, ...  288 
Dorr,  Julia  C.  R     Peace,  S9  ;  Lord,  Save,  or  I 

Perish,  511. 
Dwight,  Mrs.  M.  A  B.    A  Fete  Champetre  on 

the  Bosphorus, 274 

Gage,  W.  L.     Expeditions  to  the  North  Pole,. . .     138 

Gardner,  A  K.     What  is  Death? 447 

G.  P.  P.     A  Glance  at  Spain, 34 

Gray,  Alice.    Helen  Dean, 471 


PAG  8 
Gray,  F.  M.    The  Jews  in  China,  90 ;  Purple  and 

Fine  Linen,  565. 
Greenwood,  James,  Author  of  "The  Lambeth 
Casual,"  etc.    Pawnbrokery  in  London,  109; 
Music  for  the  Million,  289 ;  Enlisting  for  the 
British  Army,  4S0. 

Guizot,  M.     Christianity  and  Morality, 235 

Hale,  Richard.      The  Vegetable    Kingdom    of 

California, 522 

Harbaugh,  Henry.     Matthias  Claudius, 330 

Hinsdale,  Grace  Webster.  Raphael's  Madonna 
di  San  Sisto,  57 ;  The  Old  Grief,  245  ;  The 
May-Flower  Gift,  445. 

Hurst,  J.  F.     The  Late  King  of  Bavaria, 254 

Laurence,  E.  A     Paul  on  Mars  Hill, 147 

Mather,  May.     The  Doves, 494 

Mellen,  W.  R.  G.     Saint  Helena, 428 

Noyes,  James  O.     The  Climate  of  the  Mississippi 

Valley, 53 

Origin  of  the  Old  Testament, 4S8 

Patton,  William  W.  Amusements  and  the  Church,     417 

Palmer,  Ray.     Home  and  Woman, 64 

Percy,  George  Exmouth.     The  Prose  of  Poets, . .      20 
Phelps,  J.  W.     College  Education  and  the  Col- 
ored Race, 44S 

Pollard,  Josephine.   The  Leaf  upon  the  Stream,     170 

Randolph,  A  D.  F.     An  Autumn  BuriaL 323 

Robinson,  R  T.     Dr.  Watts'  Hymns, 512 

Riickert.     The  Prince  of  Peace, 162 

Schaff,  Philip.     Dies  Irae,  39 ;  Translations  of,     261 
Shearman,   Julia  A        Ireland  and  the  Irish 

Church, 465 

Sherwood,  John  D.  Stockholders — their  Rights 
and  Wrongs,  97 ;  What  Becomes  of  all  the 
Smart  Children,  377. 

Simmons,  D.  B.     The  Religion  of  Japan, 435 

Smith,  Dr.  J.  V.  C.     Human  Eyes, 531 

Spear,  Samuel  T.     Earth's  Greatest  Marvel, . . .     163 

Street,  Alfred  B.     The  Old  Trading  House, 320 

Tarbox,  I.  N.     Origin  of  the  Old  Testament, ...     4SS 
Thomson,  Clifford.     Pawnbrokery  in  New  York, 

246 ;  Gift  Enterprises,  494. 
Towle,  G.  M.     Disraeli,  Prime  Minister  of  Eng- 
land,       309 

Tattle,  Joseph  F.  Extracts  from  an  Old  Un- 
published Journal, 455 

Vandenburgh,  CoL  O.     The  City  of  New  York 

Ten  Years  Hence, 350 

Vattemare,  Alexander, 534 

Wilson,  J.  Grant.  Lord  Brougham,  1S1 ;  Green- 
wood Cemetery,  359. 


IV 


Index. 


PAGE 

Woolsey,  T.  D.     Books,  Bookselling,  and  Libra- 
ries in  Ancient  Home,  No.  I.,  278 ;  No.  II. , 
297. 
Xaver,  Dr.     My  Acquaintance  with  the  King  of 

Italy, 323 

Yonge,    Miss,  Author  of    "The    Heir  of  Red- 

clyffe."    The  Chaplet  of  Pearls, 1,  117,  203, 

365,  392,  557 
SUBJECTS. 

A  Chat  with  the  Austrian  Premier, 149 

Air,  Sunlight,  and  Water, 226 

Amusements  and  the  Church, 417 

A  Glance  at  Spain, 34 

1  tavaria,  The  Late  King  of, 254 

Books,   Bookselling,  and   Libraries  in  Ancient 

Borne, 278,  297 

Books  of  the  Month, 93,  187,  284,  477 

Bosphorus,  A  Fete  Champetre  on  the, 274 

Building  Eras  in  Religion, 385 

Christianity  and  Morality, 235 

Camille:  Chaps.   X.-XIIL,  49;    Chaps.  XIV.- 

XIX.,  172  ;  Chaps.  XX.-XXIV.,  268. 

California,  The  Vegetable  Kingdom  in, 522 

Clergymen  and  the  Laws  of  Health, 539 

College  Education  and  the  Colored  Race, 448 

Colored  Race,  The,  and  College  Education, 448 

Current  Poetical  Coin, 520 

Death,  What  is  it  ? 447 

De  Gasparin,  Madame.     Camille, 49,  172,  268 

Dies  Irae,  39  ;  Translations  of,  261. 

Disraeli,  Prime  Minister  of  England, 309 

Distinctions  of  Color, 81 

Earth's  Greatest  Marvel, 163 

Editor :  Books  of  the  Month,. .  ..93,  187,  284,  477,  568 

The  Spanish  Gypsy, 382 

Expeditions  to  the  North  Pole, 138 

Extracts  from  an  Old  Unpublished  Journal, ....  455 

Family  Circle,  The, 302 

Friedhof— The  Court  of  Peace, 157 

Gift  Enterprises, 494 

Greenwood  Cemetery, 359 


PAGE 

Home  and  Woman, 64 

Human  Eyes, 531 

Ireland  and  the  Irish  Church, 465 

Helen  Dean, 477 

Japan,  The  Religion  of, 435 

Katydids, 500 

King  of  Italy,  My  Acquaintance  with  the, 323 

London,  Pawnbrokery  in, 109 

Lord  Brougham, 181 

Matthias  Claudius, 330 

Mississippi  Valley,  The  Climate  of, 58 

Music  for  the  Million, 289 

Napoleon  and  St.  Domingo,   28 

New  York,  The  City  of,  Ten  Years  Hence, 350 

New  York,  Pawnbrokery  in, 246 

Paul  on  Mars  Hill, .  147 

Pawnbrokery  in  London, 109 

Pawnbrokery  in  New  York, 246 

Purple  and  Fine  Linen, 565 

Ri'ickert,  the  Orientalist, 505 

Saint  Helena, 423 

Savings  Banks, 550 

Strange  Career  of  an  Artist, 534 

Stockholders — their  Rights  and  Wrongs, 97 

The  Chaplet  of  Pearls:  Chaps.  XVII-XIX.,  1 ; 

Chaps.  XX.-XXIIL,  117;    Chaps.  XXIV.- 

XXVII. ,  203  ;  Chaps.  XXVIII. -XXIX.,  365 ; 

Chaps.  XXX.-XXXL,  392;  Chaps.  XXXIL- 

XXXIIL,  557. 

The  Great  Future, 344 

The  Gold  Star, 338 

The  Jews  in  China, 90 

The  Leper  of  the  City  of  Aoste, 72 

The  Old  Trading  House, 320 

The  Prose  of  Poets, 20 

The  Spanish  Gypsy, 382 

Thiers,  Adolph,  A  Chat  with, 410 

Training  for  the  Pulpit  Manward, 198 

Watts'  Hymns, 512 

What  Becomes  of  all  the  Smart  Children, 377 

Woman  and  Home, 64 


